Dr Cermin

This happened a couple of weeks ago after a particularly heavy downpour to one of the cars at home.. It was parked, it didn't happen when anyone (especially me) was in it. I was just glad that it didn't happen during the rain, or else there's also the soggy, musty interior to deal with on top of everything else. But the glass was everywhere and not something you want to deal with barehanded. 

Talk about FML right? A heavy, rotten, termite-infested branch did this. Drove home, and just about everyone got on board to clean and vacuum both the glass shards and termites inside the car. I felt horrible when my mum got a really nasty cut. Was mostly done when it got too dark to continue and I had a prior engagement that I was running really late for. So we taped it up with a garbage bag and masking tape (in case it rained overnight). 

The next day... 

After figuring out if we had windscreen insurance (nope), drove over to a nearby Dr Cermin (which started in Johor, but has branches around the country) around noon-ish. They said it would take a couple of hours, so went out to lunch and was back at work not too long before they called to say it was done. I was just glad that they had also vacuumed the glass shards that we missed the day before and that I didn't have to do any more vacuuming. There was some masking tape on it, which they say I could remove later in the day. Was also told not to wash the car for about 3 days, and not to have the windscreen tinted for at least another week. They were also nice enough to put back the stuff that was on the windscreen, but not the Smart Tag bracket (which I still haven't gone round to myself).

They would do the insurance paperwork for you if you had windscreen coverage, but since the previous owner (the old bean) was too cheap for that, it was either forfeit the NCD (which would've been 25% next year as I'm starting from scratch) or paying for it out of pocket. Because we went with the latter, the entire thing cost RM1300 (after some negotiation; compared to nearly RM1500 with insurance coverage, or nearly RM2000 if we went to Toyota). 

How's the new windscreen? So far, so good. There were also some minor nicks and what not over the years on the old windscreen, so this new one felt a little clean slate-ish.

RTC Battery Saga

So I've been having to deal with having to manually synchronizing the time on the computer because apparently the RTC (Real Time Clock) battery's dead or dying. For all intents and purposes I'll just call it dead.

For the heck of it, I called HP Malaysia to ask how much said spare part was. I nearly spat out my tea when the person on the other end told me that a tiny little thing like that was gonna cost me RM165, and that was before the shipping (from overseas) and the labour cost.

I have issues with paying so much for a thing so small and quite frankly, a bit commonplace.

Instead I ordered one off eBay, using the product code that the sibling has dug up. So I'm now waiting for it to arrive. 

I hope when it DOES arrive, it doesn't end in my laptop exploding.

Prince of Persia movie?! SERIOUSLY?!

I'm not a gamer, but one of the games that I do remember playing when I was 7 or 8 on our first home computer (which must cost a bomb back in the day, I don't know what the system was) was Prince of Persia. The first one ever. The 2D version.

But I never made it that far cos I would usually get careless and would've lost all my lives before I ever find the princess and fight the vizier dude in the end (I assume). I'm surprised that I even played it at all back then. Then again, the controls were a bit of a no-brainer lah: just jump-jump and attack only mah. Or something to that effect.

The memory of that slipped my mind until I saw the trailer or TV spot for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time video game some years ago. Then I hear months ago it was gonna be made into a movie. A Prince of Persia movie is one thing; having a cast of white people playing "Persians" is another bone I have to pick with. WTF. With Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince - all muscles and the curtain hair. *faint* And I forgot to mention - it's also a DISNEY movie. Damn, this sounds like it's gonna be in the crapper. I have no idea what kind of plot it'll have apart from the basic story, but who goes to these things for the story?

The movie posters are already out - I think a poster of a topless Gyllenhaal would go down better with some people than him not being topless. Speaking of topless Gyllenhaal, here's a blog post which HAS pictures of him topless - not bad lah.

Even the 404 podcast made fun of the movie in one show, saying that poster of him makes him look like a "chef at a Chinese restaurant", with the double swords and red sash around the waist... made me nearly burst out laughing inappropriately as I was at work at the time.

Dumb ass protest

I remember watching the TV news at some point yesterday about the "peace" march to protest the use of English in teaching Science and Math. I was like, WTF - are you people shitting me?

I know lah Malay's the national language and all, but it's not the frigging global lingua franca!!

There's no way one can survive in the corporate world speaking only Malay. I guess you need some to survive in some places in Malaysia, but apart from that...

I don't know who the protesters were, but they're IDIOTS and they deserved what they got.

I should also be glad I wasn't driving in that area - I know I'd be doubly pissed if I was caught in THAT jam on a weekend : P

Sunburst Festival 09 Lineup.... FAIL

Last night was the official launch of Sunburst Festival 09 at Pavilion and it was when they were supposed to announce who was coming or going to perform next month. Can't be arsed to go because of traffic and I'm not a masochist.

From KLue's blog post, here's the lineup... so far.

INTERNATIONAL

1. N.E.R.D.
2. Russian Winters (Australia)

LOCAL

1. Butterfingers (minus Loque)
2. Hujan
3. Bunkface
4. Estranged
5. Estrella
6. Pesawat
7. They Will Kill Us All
8. The Otherside Orchestra
9. Joe Flizzow
10. Meet Uncle Hussein
11. Gerhana Ska Cinta
12. Dead Mushroom
13. Arabyrd
14. Aseana Percussion Unit
15. Twilight Actiongirl
16. Loops Collective
17. Cosmic Kitchen
18. Reza Salleh
19. Juwita Suwito
20. Projek Pistol

REGIONAL

1. Nidji (Indonesia)
2. Agrikulture (Indonesia)
3. Andra And The Backbone (Indonesia)
4. Sixx (Singapore)
5. Malique & D'Essentials (Indonesia)
6. Twentyfirst Night (Indonesia)

TBC

1. Coldplay
2. Prodigy
3. Lupe Fiasco

Three words: WTF. The list is underwhelming to say the least. I have nothing against the local and regional artistes performing, BUT COME ON...COLDPLAY'S STILL TBC!! I don't think the Prodigy's coming also lah (and unfortunately, the only song of theirs most people would know is that Firestarter song...) as they were (methinks) already in Singapore recently.... Don't even get me started on Lupe Fiasco.

At this point I say Coldplay might STILL have a chance, albeit a slim one... if they really want to stop by after their March 19th concert in New Zealand :P . Wistful thinking I know, but if they do show up, it'll be a first for most Malaysian fans that didn't see them a few years ago in Singapore.

I have nothing against N.E.R.D., but not even all three of them are coming (I heard). If Pharrell doesn't show up, then it's just stupid.

I should start planning to hawk off my ticket....

Another dumbass proposal you only hear in Malaysia

The latest proposal in the oh-so long list of dumbass proposals thrown to the gahmen: the Malaysian Film Producers Association wants to increase the ticket price of Hollywood movies to RM20 to help out the local film industry.

Three words come to mind: WTF.

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!

This is the most unsporting proposal I've had the misfortune to hear of!! WHAT LAH!!

I already refuse to pay RM10 for a butchered Hollywood movie, much less the same price for a local movie called CICAKMAN!!! For fucks' sake, Cicakman is about a guy with lizard powers!! I'm not that sorry that I rather watch him on the big screen...


..than the skinny-ass Saiful Apek in a supposedly "lizard" costume (which I still can't stare at for too long as I may burn my eyes out and be traumatised)

Again: ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!

I like this piece from the NST where they got feedback from some of the local directors, and here's some of it from Afdlin Shauki - I'm including the entire bit so I don't get accused of taking things out of context.

Director Afdlin Shauki said the number of Hollywood movies in local cinemas should be limited.

He said China only allowed 20 Hollywood movies to be shown annually.

"It means only the best movies from Hollywood are shown, which is good for movie-goers"

Later in the piece he did say the proposal might backfire, but you can read that for yourself.

I'm sorry, but what makes you think that we'll get the best Hollywood movies HERE IN MALAYSIA? All we get here are the predicted blockbusters and kiddy movies and the occasional arthouse movie.

I go through the awards season every year watching people give awards to movies that I've not even HEARD OF, much less shown here.

Moviegoing overseas may not be that cheap, but at least they're paying to watch an entire movie without any snips and nips. Sure it's relatively cheap here, but come on.

But to be fair, this is a country where full frontal armpit is haram and lesbian kisses in local movies are a huge no-no, so I get that local film makers have an interesting time coming up with concepts for movies that'll get approval from the various authorities and funding for said movies. Hence why we have movies called Cicakman (which unfortunately, did well enough for them to do a SEQUEL - urgh) and Antoo Fighter.

If they came up with more movies like say, oh.... SEPET; then justifiable lah. BUT with all this kind of movie ah... liddat I might as well just wait a few months and then they'll be on TV as Raya movies that I could then tune in and out of as my mum watches it.

For fuck's sake, throw this one out. Please.

Renewing the Malaysian Passport - the Photo Essay

[This is my rough guide / bitch rant on renewing your Malaysian chip based passport at the Damansara immigration office - if anyone found this remotely useful, please let me know in the comments - thanks]

Dragged myself out of bed at 6.45 a.m.... well, 7 a.m., but I can assure you that it's waay earlier than my usual wake up time. Dropped Gran off and was on my way by 7.30 a.m. Thankfully there wasn't a traffic JAM going there so I was there before 8 a.m. Back on my old stomping grounds again, six years since I last renewed. Heard that there's the passport renewal kiosks available, so I thought I try that and blog/bitch about it...

The KiPPas (Kiosk Pembaharuan Pasport) room.... notice the uber long line out the door...

I can tell you that it's MUDAH and CEPAT, but EFEKTIF... not so much.

4 machines, very long lines - damn stuffy inside because the A/C wasn't working, FAN also don't have... Ironic, right - no KIPAS in the KiPPas room? Don't worry if you were as clueless as I was - there's a few officers standing by, ready to help. (This one was taken after I was done - for illustration purposes)

They should update this stupid thing properly instead of cancelling stuff out with marker pen.

The checklist - if you can't read the addendum, it says, "ONE PHOTOCOPY OF IC (BOTH SIDES)" - which I didn't know and had to pay RM0.40 for it (WTF - I could've saved that money if I KNEW ABOUT IT and could've made my own copy). Don't worry, there are plenty of people who could help you with your passport renewal needs.

You need one of THESE (which are available there, no big deal) - fill it up details on the outside and it's for your old passport, photo and the photocopy IC.

Easily understood enough, no? You have to like how "2 JAM" is red, bold and in quotation marks.

The kiosk in use - (this guy asked me if I was gonna blog about it when we were first outside; I told him maybe, look what happened now).

The top of the KiPPas - kinda looks like an ATM, no? This is the top half.

The bottom half - the part which seperates this kiosk from the run of the mill ATM: passport chip reader, MyKad slot and thumbprint reader.

It got to my turn and JUST MY LUCK - the stupid machine CRASHED on me just as I was done feeding in the money. The officer had to take out the money storage inside the machine and returned me my money and I HAD TO LINE UP ALL OVER AGAIN. WTF. Didn't help that they're ACTUALLY Windows XP running on ASUS hardware. FUCK.

So I got my receipt...

Went upstairs to see where I needed to be at later...

Killed most of the 2 hours at McDonalds with OJ and a hash brown, and went back up again....

Supposed to be this area lah - Counters 16 and 17.

I don't know if I could just go ahead and tried to get a number first, so I tried. Got snapped at by this rude young Malay woman (so much for being nice during Ramadhan - I hope her puasa today doesn't count) who told me to wait another 10 minutes (to the time stated on the receipt). I'm already pretty grumpy from the heat and stuffiness (and menses) and now I have to deal with grumpy civil servants. Damnit.

ANYWAY - turns out I was a "KIVcase" BECAUSE I didn't include a RECENT photo (they didn't say must have recent photo mah, they just say they needed A PASSPORT SIZED PICTURE) so I had to get that done ASAP or they won't process it (so I was rudely told by this Malay guy behind Counter 15). Decided to go with the photo booth right outside the area, by the stairs. I knew this was gonna come back and bite me in the ass, and it has. WTF.

Got it done in a few minutes and gave that one measly mug shot to the nice middle aged Malay woman behind the counter, who told me to sit and wait another 20 minutes. Now I know it only really takes 20 minutes - and we're stuck waiting for TWO hours BECAUSE...?!

Came back up (you didn't think I was gonna sit there and wait the 20 minutes, did you?) again 20 minutes later and I ran into another hump: they had problems capturing my thumbprints for the biometric measure and after going back and forth between both thumbs on the damn thumb reader, I finally get a reading and I was FINALLY DONE. I was home about noon-ish.

Man am I glad that I don't have to do this often.

In summary, here's what you need to use the KiPPas:

• Old passport (you need the chip based one for this to work, otherwise you're stuck with doing it manually)
  
• ONE RECENT passport sized photograph of yourself
• Money (RM300 cash)
• Photocopy of own IC (both sides)
  

BTW, parking cost me nearly RM9 for the several hours that I'm there. Gah.

Mixed updates

Mostly because I can't be arsed to flesh stuff out at the moment...

1. Weather - too damn warm of late. I hate the people who complained about the rain.
   
   
2. Boston Legal bowing out after its fifth season this fall. *cries another river* HOW CAN?!
   
   Okay, okay - I know it has to end at some point (there's only so much about Denny Crane's "mad cow" they can write about), but the final season's only gonna be THIRTEEN episodes long. WTF?! So it's a few more months of Alan Shore before we had to go our separate ways?! NOOOOO....!!!
   
   I'm so sad now : (
   
   
3. More useless work at work this week. Good thing douchebag boss not around this week or else would quit outright.
   
   
4. Reading Philippa Gregory's The Queen's Fool.
   
   
5. Been wanting to mention this, but I keep forgetting: Brouhaha about some stupid proposal put forward by Foreign Minister that women travelling alone overseas must have letter of consent from their parents or employers to prove that they're not drug mules/mail order brides/love zombie. Another case of WTF. If it goes through I'm gonna scream.
   
   
6. Mariah Carey married a guy young enough to be a younger brother (Nick Cannon). When I first heard the confirmation, I was like... "From a Victoria's Secret model to HER?! Aisey man..."
   
   
7. First the WGA strike, now a potential SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) strike as it's their turn to renew/negotiate contracts. Studios are getting ready just in case.
   
   Case in point: House, MD is shooting their fifth season NOW instead of going on break.