Lost in translation

so after attending classes yesterday, it got me to thinking about what i would translate. i have deffo confirmed that i will be doing Malay-English or vice versa and you know what? i'm pretty excited now! i was uber stressed yesterday - the confusion of still wanting to do French translation, but really that would just be complicating matters even worse. now that i've let it sink in a little, i just realised there's a wealth of Malay literary and non-literary materials that are just waitinggg to be translated and i'm so excited!! i started thinking of Puteri Gunung Ledang for one. i know they've actually subtitled the musical, but lets face it..that was pretty mediocre translation wasn't it. but then i gave it a go and yeah, that's the thing. to the normal joe translation seems like the easiest thing to do and god knows how many times we've laughed at the subtitling especially when it comes to movie titles (read: Mati Keras dengan Dendam - Die Hard With a Vengeance) but when you actually sit yourself down and try and translate proper then you realise how difficult it is. there's always the cultural/social aspect of translating something from one language to another language that its just totally different culturally/socially. how does one translate kekanda, adinda...whilst still maintaining that sense of respect/politeness. in english its just you, me, he, she. doesn't quite conote the same message or feel now does it?

but on that note, i'm really keen on doing classic malay translation or even pantun for that matter. i just find it absolutely awe-inspiring whenever i come across the older generation Malays who still pantun during weddings or rather engagements especially when it's done impromptu..no papers, no pens..just on the top of their head. its amazing. i wish i had that capability, unfortunately for me my Malay is attrocious, something i wish and am hoping to change. desperately.

well what do you guys think? i would love, love to get some feedback from this..like email me personally if you don't want to leave comments here i understand but yeah.. i would love to hear your thoughts on this. it is something that is playing on my mind constantly as the fear of having to do a proper translation and thesis on it (eventhough it is a year away) is scaring the living daylight out of me. i really feel the difference studying as an undergraduate and as a postgraduate. it's oh-so-serious and thrice as scary.

on a lighter note, i finally found a guy who's not bad to look at and i'm quite sure he isn't gay (more than half the men here are!!). his name is Ben and he's a jazz major...ohhhhhh you can't help but love these arty types. the ones that have to suffer for their trade? even better! tortured artists - my ultimate weakness! and please ah..you heard it here first copycats go to hell! well nah, i prolly wouldn't do anything about him, but rumour has it, he digs japanese girls. goddamit. so close yet so far! lol. annddd likkkeee omgggg i washed his bowl for him tonight when we had dinner at the Sassoon Halls after making small chitchat at the sink!! ooOOOOoo haha yes i am a loser but you guys keep coming back for more so that's something right! haha and well hey whatever helps me not think of the past and of what could've been eh? sigh.


good times, good times.. ..

Part 1 : My London, London, London wanna go down!

so ok i've been meaning to blog for aggess but i hate how blogger is so fucked up! loading pictures is hell i tell you. so again, i'm sorry but you gotta make do with another pictureless blog. grr. well its been a little over a week now, and i'm proud to say i have survived! Ho yeah.

reached here at 7pm local time on the 14th of September and by the time we got to our campus with the Welcome to Middlesex orientation program guides it was almost 10pm. and i got to my room close to 11pm. a cold lonely room, it came with a cupboard that had no door, a rather comfy clean bed, a long desk, a pin-up wall, a sink and some other storage places. so in all my fatigue, i managed to unpack a little..i didn't know how to set up the internet so i switched my laptop on and rocked myself to sleep..haha nolah put it on for some music, coz it was a lil too quiet and i needed something to remind me of my comfort zone. then i started feeling hungry and thank the lord zefane fara zakaria (bless her soul) baked me brownies and packed it for me to bring on the plane the morning before i left - zef you are an absolut angel...as soon as i sunk my teeth into your home-baked-brownies-with-love i felt good again and slept like a babe!

the next day was basically just running around, getting my Middlesex ID card sorted n stuff like that. on Saturday, there was a tour of London and a day out shopping at Covent Garden. here i met Hana on the bus and we immediately hit it off! Hana's from Prague and she's fucking awesome. if there's one thing i realised since i got here is that the British and the Yanks only ever joke about alcohol and drunken nights - which is all fine, but can get a little stale after awhile. i mean c'mon..there's gotta be more depth than that, biensur! i get a long better with the Europeans..they're sense of humour is spot onnn man. then we have the Asians. lets just say that when they get together(Malaysian/Indonesian/Chinese/Korean/etc) the conversation goes a little something like this:

" hoshichangsherr!@#!$@!#^@*&#*&^#holengggahhh "

even when they fucking know i don't speak cina..abit rude right! oh well, so i wasn't yellow enough to hang out with the yellows and i wasn't white enough to hang out with the whites. what's a girl to do eh? she hangs out with the crazy girl from Czech! hahaha oh i love hanaball she's the best! k nuff bout that. my campus is pretty cool..its not your typical city uni which is just a building in a bustling town with traffic and pollution. on the contrary, it doesn't even feel like you're in London coz it is, as i have mentioned before, out in the boondocks. Trent Park is..as the name suggests..a park and you have loads of outsiders coming in on the weekends to the campus with their children and dogs running around, looking at the flourishing flora and fauna. the main building is called the Mansion and is lo and behold..a mansion! infront of it is a huge lawn where most of us have our lunch, sprawled and soaking up the sun while its still out. and facing this lawn are the halls - Gubbay Hall where i live, the student union bar/cafe/office beside it, the Stables where some classes take place at, and then Sassoon Hall. there is an open air swimming pool (open only during summer) and then a couple of steps that leads you down to the Bevan building which is where the language (my course!) and the library is at. there are a few other buildings for the music, dance and drama students. behind the mansion is sprawling greenery...it's just awesome. i'm pretty sure there's a lake at the bottom of it all, i have yet to see this lake..tomorrow perhaps!

yesterday i went for the beginners french course..thought i'd check it out before going straight for the intermediate coz you know i have "done three semesters in uni". that was all bull man! i prolly learned 4 weeks equivalent in the first class! but the great thing is that as a MA language/translation student, i can sit thru as many of these classes as i want to without having to pay a cent..woohoo! otherwise the french classes would be like 100pounds a semester..jackpot or what? ; )

today i met two other girls in my course (MA translation). Stella from Cyprus (who's frikkin hot in my opinion..and she's fuckin smart!!) and Irina from Romania. well actually i've met them before but today we hung out for abit which was good. classes started for me today, and damn..it was the reality check I needed. all of the other students were language students before except for me. Like what was i thinking. i hardly know verbs from adjectives..yes English IS my mother tongue but its more like ok what I’m saying sounds right. haha yes, i'm in deep shit.and the amount of reading we have to do is insane. so much so that i have decided to translate english-malay and vice versa. having done a semester in Malaysia i KNOW how difficult that is. its funny how not many people realize how difficult the art of translation is..but fuck them. i'm thinking of doing classic malay..syair or something like that, but then to get hold of info might be a bit of a problem. feel free to suggest any good literary malay works if you've read any, i would love to translate them!

tonight i went for a free theatre production of Kaboom the Office Burlesque in our campus with Melissa, Hanna and Ann. staged by our drama students..twas not bad. hey when you get a dose of culture for free..take it i say!

anyways, it has been fun i guess but damn i miss home so bad! ah i miss my mom, my dad, my crazy mofos..my CAR!!! ohhhh my lil black perdana...you have been so good to me!! grocery shopping when you have to walk like 15 minutes with heavy bottles and boxes is NOT fun! boo. someone please, buy me a ticket back for christmas. pleaseeeeee.


safe fasting everyone : )

Part 2: Riverboat Disco on the Thames (21 Sept 2006)

As part of the freshers Welcome to Middlesex orientation program, there was a riverboat disco on the itinerary and so students from the Enfield and Trent Park campuses got to mingle on a "river boat" on the lovely River Thames to witness a lovely London sunset and party the night away! i swear the boys are all fucken gay. goddam them. but i managed to meet up with Veron (yay!) and her friends which was nice : ) thanks for the late night chat babes!

Diana from Ecuadorrr..Ecuadorrr is sexxxyyyy!

The first Malaysian friend - Hui Nee!

Keane from Malaysia and Sharky from Lithuania

with the luverly gals from Enfield : )

aha where the cooool people were..top deck! ; )

oh wind wind blowing our hair!

Day out in Central (22 September 2006)
After putting my name down for the following clubs (in no particular order) at the Freshers Fayre at Trent Park:

i) Student Respect

ii) Some anti-war thing

iii) Yoga

iv) Gymnastics (only to find out its like artistic, no way in heck am i doing that)

v) cheerleading (shut up, i'm gonna cheer for Hana! haha go hankaaa. no i really am baffled by my choice)

vi) DJ-scratching (helll yea this should be fun, as well as cheaper entries into clubs woohoo.)

vii) Salsa (i figured since my mom made me bring my shoes, i mite as well!)

and

viii) Modern Language Society (alwaysss game for foreign movie watching so yeahhh! yeahhh! phoness for youuu)

we (Hana, Veron and I) decided we'd go to Central to check out London Fashion Week. obviously we wouldn't be able to get into the catwalk shows but apparently there was an exhibition so we thought what the hey. worse comes to worse, we'd snap a photo outside - who knows..if we were lucky we get to scream "beckhaammm" kan. so we go lah all the way to the Natural History Museum (where LFW is) and it looked like it was pretty much an invite thing only. so we go into the NHM and randomly camwhore as its such a nice (and free) museum. hehe.

giant! and i'm not talking about the girl in green : )

three vain girls and crazy mirrors..its a recipe for disaster!

yeargh! its jumanji all over again!

oh hello! you should go out more!

After that, we headed to Piccadily Circus for lunch at the Pizza Hut there (that was the only place I could recall and i really wanted to eat something quickly!) and after, Veron had to head back to meet up with some friends for dinner. So i took Hana to the Topshop at Oxford Street - you know..the four storey one! and omg, the bottom level is fucking amazing - the one with the vintage and bazaar stuff. we saw bags by Paul's Boutique, amazing boots..and we made an oath to find a job and blow it all only here..the lower level of Topshop Oxford St..and also in charity shop in Enfield! haha

lunching and munching

after feeling depressed about not being able to afford anything, i then took Hana to the Starbucks at the nearest Borders across the street for something a little more our budget..coffee!! so we sat there, daydreaming about cute handbags while killing time before dinner. took the tube back to Edgeware Rd to meet up with Dewi and Hafzy (that's my sister and bro-in-law for you ignorant fools ;p) at Mawar. Hana was so brave she tried the Singapore Laksa which was really quite spicy! she turned red, she teared..but she finished it all!! well done Hanaball, well done! she had to leave by 9pm coz the last shuttle to Trent Park was at 10pm. I on the other hand stayed at my sisters place over the weekend to sort out my phone, winter clothes shopping and some other stuff. so yeah i've got a UK number now - 0044 7726 341577 call me call me call meee : )

we've been fasting for two days now, and today i was back in the halls..so i cooked some really delish pasta (if i may say so myself..its like my specialty dish..and the ONLY dish i can cook) seriously damn sedap and i made some for Hana as well and she reallly loved it which was good! now i can get married and my man will have to eat pasta for the rest of his life haha! we went back to her room to watch the last episode of IT Crowd and then watched this Czech movie called Samotari. the actor Sasa (pronounced Sascha) Rasilov is soo hott..anyway, gonna end this post with a quote from that movie:

"You leave a piece of your soul with everyone you break up with.

The missing piece is what hurts the most..

..because it's not with you."

i swear people high on crack have the best quotes..ever! good night and good luck people : )

Ode to My Room.
Middlesex University, Room West 210,
Gubbay Hall, Trent Park Campus,
Cockfosters Road, Barnet,
Hertfordshire EN4 OPT.

when bored

take picture,

in the room with poster,

like a loser.

fin.

Wedding of the Year: Datin Siti Nurhaliza & Datuk Khalid Mohamad Jiwa @ Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (28/08/2006)

the view from our table

SO. JFK invited me to go as his date for the so-called wedding of the year, and although I am prolly not her biggest fan I thought..what the hey. With less than a week's notice, I scrambled to put my look together, borrowing pieces here and there (thanks Eliza, your outfit rocked!), got my hair done in Shah Alam, and awesome blossom make-up by Zefane Fara Zakaria (anyone need a make-up artist, just ask me for her details :P)

I drove to KL Convention Centre on my own and met JFK there, who decided he was going to kick-start his John Travolta celebrity-pilot "status" that night by coming in his RM2k Italian pilot suit. um um..yeah. Malay wedding = pilot suit. ntah apa2 entah.

We were uber punctual and thank god for that too, for as soon as we arrived we all (I'm talking VIPs, celebs, commonfolk, what-have-yous) had to queue up to register for door gifts and seat numbers before entering. Trust me, with 3000 guests..this is not a possible feat or rather intelligent planning to start with.

Being a 'celebs' date at a big function like this was uber weird because the media kept wanting to interview JFK or have his picture taken and I felt like a frikkin accesory. YER. never again man..NEVER.

So anyway, we queued up to get the door gift thing coz we thought we HAD to (like half an hour??) and when we finally got into the hall (which was beautifully decorated to look like a garden) we thought our seats were rrrigghttt at the back but when we asked the usherer, apparently we could sit anywhere because they would have to start later then planned if everyone had to go through registration..pandai pun!

my date for the night

We sat four tables away from the left of the pelamin (and also the door where Siti would come out from) with some other not-so-fun people ;) The table beside us saw Joe Flizzow (yo yo.) and this other actor I forget his name..Ahmad Idham? lade-frikkin-da.

another view from our table

After being seated and slowly but surely seeing the hall fill up, I was utterly amused to see that the celebs who decided that they would come fashionably late, trying to cover their embarassment to find that this was a first come first serve seating basis as they scuttled to find seats at the very back. hilarious. I dunno who to feel sorry for, the celebs or the very poorly organised seating arrangement.

The wedding dinner started with Datin Siti looking very regal, awesome make-up ya'll..and I loved the fact that her hair she put in a loose-permed low bun. Classic!

Siti and K enter

Anyway, I'm not gonna talk about the entertainment/itinerary aspect of it - I'm sure you've read more than enough reports in the papers and what not. I am happy that I got to see Kris Dayanti and Hetty Koes Endang perform though...score! Ziana looked like a cake..yummy.

NOT Hetty or Kris..it is Ziana.

um..um..YEAH.

Tun with..some gila glam woman who was all "ohhh these are my childrennn" while Tun just nodded and darted his eyes to the entrance. Classic!

With the purdy bride and the duh-like groom. pft.

a Kelly Ng moment.

In conclusion, the dinner was alright, not great but not bad either. The performances were good, that I have to give credit. The food was mediocre, Siti's first outfit I loved, the second one..not quite to my liking but hey..it prolly cost more than anything I'll ever wear in my lifetime right, so who am I to say ;) With that, I wish her all the best of luck and for her sake I really hope this is the real thing..bonne nuit et bonne chance!

..And back home!

Cam-whore alerttt..Sleeping Dictionary ya'll hahahaha...ohh i so need a new hobby.

red corsets are the way to go eh Zef?

Where's my tiara? looking pretty and regal like Siti with red eyeshadow- Zef you rock lah woman, i look like sotong and loving it!

Kevin Shah's Birthday @ Zeta Bar, KL Hilton (18/08/2006)

gotta thank Dada and Kevin's friend Dan for the pictures..I love 'em ya'll!

picture courtesy of minion Dan ;)

with birthday boi Kevvo!

my babes Dadakins and Zevarekai

the only two who are completely sober - Zef and I. those other jenglots ain't got a clue!

all hail King Jenglot aka Minion Dan!

there he is again!

um..got enough Dan?

the dvd seller's little woman celebrates the death of JD Fortune over a glass of coke. bom.

..and the Encore!

killin' the morning away at Zeffo's place. The poser in me was dying to come out, its been awhile!! :)

represent.

click here if you wanna know what we're talkin about. yeah..cheap thrill.

One for the road..

"Die JD Fortune, die.." she said.

yeah, Zef, Dan and I were unfortunate enough to have seen JD Fortune (INXS performed earlier at Stadium Negara and the after party was at Zeta) coming out of Zeta and heading to the lifts near Zeta. he must have been high on something because he was acting like a total ass infront of us - refusing to acknowledge the fact that we were right in front of him (there was really no one else around..just us), Zef asked nicely if we could take a photo with him coz you know he's a ROCKSTAR. please lah. he was doing everything he could to avoid looking at us, by looking at the floor..looking at his right-hand man. wtf. just nod and smile would've done the trick you know fool.we're not exactly hard-up groupies. so the bodyguard noticing his stupid behaviour apologised on behalf and said, "Sorry ladies, but he just performed a huge concert so he's really tired."

and we we're almost okay with this explanation. but then guess what? instead of going back to his room, Mr JD Fortune heads back into the club to booze and club some more! OHH tired is it?! poor soul. the stress of being a fucking celebrity eh? go to hell lah JD bastard. not even an original INXS member for a year and dah nak melebih-lebih. eat shit you jenglot.

Zef was hilarious though, coz we couldn't be arsed to go back in Zeta so we were chillin outside joking around like the clowns that we are. and Zef mockingly shouted out at JD and said, "Yeahh and I voted for you..yeah!" when the bodyguard heard this he came back to us and he said, "I'm really sorry ladies, but you gotta understand." and Zef was like, "Yeah no its cool, if I were a celebrity I would've done the same." HAHA. in your face. oh well JD Fortune, lap it up while you still can..keep up the attitude man..ROCKS ON!!

*insert jenglot jive here*

Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical - Season Two

"Setapak melangkah, Dua langkah ingatan kanda kepada dinda.."

No doubt the best Malay quote ever! Caught the celebrated PGL Musical yesterday at Istana Budaya with Dada's family and Naz. Gonna put in my two cents worth here cause I'm feeling all the good tingles I get everytime I watch a good musical.

I'm gonna try and keep this as short and simple as possible. First off, PGLM had all the makings of a rockin Disney movie. Love being the central theme and good music - only the Hollywood studios might've changed the ending to a happier one ;) but I guess that's why I loved it so..sad endings always move me and to feel is a wonderful thing.

The sets and stage production was world class, its amazing to see how they could use the same props throughout in very different and creative ways. My favourite scene was when Mbok died (the usage of the red light to depict blood spillage was effin awesome) and when the white cloth dropped down from the ceiling (I bloody thought that the set was falling apart) only to realise that it was actually depicting the ocean for Gusti Putri to sail off. Good stuff.

In someways, some of the scenes reminded me of Pocahontas (especially the bit at the waterfall). The music was amazing, it's a pity the soundtracks were sold out by the time the show was finished - I want the CD so baaaadd!! Tiara was great - I think people should really cut the crap about how she got her husband to financially invest in the show and all that just so she could play the lead. Kudos to her for believing in it. Stephen Rahman-Hughes..can come serenade me ANY day man. Man. His voice was amazing, eventhough when it came to reciting his lines he was abit stiff lah but twas just a minor setback.

All the cast members put up a good job. I saw Ruzana ('Aainaa's cousin) playing a part in it and I have to admit I was envious!! But in a good way of course ;) Sigh..I miss performing..God knows if I'll ever perform again :(

After the show, Naz and I stayed back for the autograph session and I felt like the Queen when we were allowed through (coz we had bought the program book earlier) and yeah got most of the main cast to sign it. Spoke quite abit to Tiara and AC Mizal - nice people! Stephen Rahman-Hughes was hot but ala he just smiled at me..bastich, hot bastich nonetheless. Snapped a picture of him on my Nokia.

SO I'm so impressed and proud to say that Puteri Gunung Ledang is a World Class Malaysian product and I can't wait to see it being performed at the West End. Well done people!

Disclaimer: This post is to be read with a sense of humour, is not meant to be racist or to spark hatred amongst the very multicultural and muhibbah citizens of Malaysia.

Merdeka Special: Go ahead, be Jenglot
What one night at the infamous Hantu dan Jin exhibition at the Sultan Alam Shah Museum in Shah Alam a month back managed to spawn into a full blown cult when two very spaztico (AND sober) girls (with the occasional Caucasian lo-seh) got together .




The Theme: Sexy Back (Don't Be No Jenglot aka Go Ahead, Be Jenglot)
The Move: The Jenglot Jive (please ask for demo)
The Shot: Jenglotjism (A gross concotion of Pineapple, Vodka and Whipped Cream??)
The Best Seller: 1001 Jenglot Jokes

History
The Jenglot (pictured above), according to the exhibition is for the lack of a better description, the Eastern version of the Incubus/Succubus. But instead of being sexual in nature, the Jenglot apparently disturbs people in their dreams.

Jenglot in the 21st Century
In this day and age, the term Jenglot has an all together different connotation. According to the founders of the new age Jenglot - Audra K. Roslani and Zefane Fara Zakaria, the word Jenglot is flexible in nature.

Referring primarily to the stereotypical definition of what some Malaysians also refer to as the Chinese 'jeng' or 'cina bukit' - the first thought that comes to mind in describing a jenglot or in this case, Lord Jenglot would be: pasty yellow man, with yellow (not blonde) hair, spiked up naturally, with more than one piercing on the ear(s), with outfit choice either being sleeveless singlet matched with calf-lenth shorts for day wear and tight black shirt unbuttoned til below chest-area, with gold chain in full glory. Lord Jenglots usually have long fingernails, if not on all fingers, just the baby finger to make certain conquests (ie. the search for gold aka looking for the bat in the cave) easier to achieve. Latest handphone is a must for looking suave, and is usually accompanied by the female version of the Jenglot - typically skinny, with either very long, rebonded hair or with funky Japo ceramically-permed hair. Fashion styles for the female Jenglot range drastically from showing as much skin as possible to a milder version (and not as well-put together) as the Japanese Harajuku girl.

A more common term used is Ahbeng and according to Wikipedia:

Ah Beng is a term commonly given to a group of young Chinese men in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia. These Chinese men, whose age ranging from their early teens to late 20s, usually centralise in the busier and more developed cities in the region. Ah bengs typically speak local slang, which is Hokkien or Cantonese mixed with English and Malay, such as Manglish or Singlish. They are often stereotypically portrayed to
be anti-intellectual, superficial and materialistic and shallow. These values often lead to a lack of culture or indulgence in criminal activity or being involved in brawling or affray out of disagreement with other people.

Ah Beng comes from the romanization of the Hokkien pronunciation of 阿明. 明 is a word commonly used in the names of Chineses in the region; it means bright.

The term Jenglot however, is very flexible in nature. It can be used to refer to a group of Jenglots (Plural - Hey look at those jenglots) or to a specific person (Singular - He is such a jenglot). Jenglot can also be shorten to just being 'jeng' in times of desperation, but is often frowned upon in larger communities.

It can also be used as a cuss word (Shut the jenglot up!)

As a greeting (How the jenglot are you?)

Dismay (Oh jenglot it.)

Trouble (Looks like I jenglotted it again!)

Aggression (You jenglot jenglot you!)

Confusion, Curiousity or Disbelief (What the jenglot..?)

Good job (Congratujenglotians)

Desperation (Jenglottyjenglottyjeng)

Incompetence (He jenglots everything up)

Intelligence (He's a jenglot genius)

Dismissal (Why don't you go outside and play karaoke-and-go-jenglot-yourself?)

Displeasure (What the jenglot is going on?)

Lost (Where the jenglot are we?)

Disbelief (Unjenglotable!)

Retaliation (Up your jenglot ass!)

Pain (Jenglot! That hurt!!)

Pleasure (oooooh...jenglottt!!)

Love (Do you jenglot on first dates? Lets go karaoke)

Starting a relationship (Lets jenglot now)

Hate (You jenglot!)

Condemnation (Jenglot that shit)

Apathy (Who gives a jenglot)

Confusion (What the jenglot just happened)

Resignation (Oh jenglot it)

Suspicion (Who the jenglot are you?)

Panic (Lets get the jeng out of here!)

Directions (Jeng off)

Sex (Lets jenglot)

Maternal (Motherjenglot)

Pissed off (Jeng the jenging jenglots!)

Enraged (I'm gonna jeng you up)

Minors (Jenglings)

Morons (Jengturds)

So that about sums it. The beauty of the jenglot is that it is constantly evolving as with every other language. Until this writer eventually grows out of her immaturity, rest assured that there will be many more to come. And remember, you heard it here first. Goodnight, and good luck!

Girly nite in @ Zefarooney's Place 040806

ooh i had so much fun laughing that nite, esp at Zef's placeee..omg the "what time is it" bunny impersonation had me in stitches I sweaar! Viv's Patrick the Starfish impersonation also..you girls are nutters! think we were in stitches from the time I got there about 7ish till we left for Cynna.Supposed to watch Frida but ended up watching Cirque du Soleil's Varekai in the end which was SO good.

Girly nite out @ Cynna 040806

glam, bling, boho, summer, retro.

AUDRAkay, zevarekai, VivoTivo.

3/4ths of the Ah Chan sisters!

L-R: Kaer, Zef, Shaun, Moi, Joe.

Crash course with Cash and Corrs!

Zell.

Pussycat Dolls Concert
26 July 2006, Sunway Surf Pool

Talk about a long day. Had lunch with Dada in OU before heading back to her place. Fariz picked us up at about three something and we headed to Shah Alam to leave the car at Kevvo's place. Left SA at about 4.30pm and reached Sunway at about 5.30ish due to massive jam on Federal.

So we reach Elephant Walk and then bump into Farahana and some of her friends, seem to be doing that a lot these days..so sweet? go figure. So much for wanting to come early and push through the crowds..the gates only opened at 7pm. What do we end up doing? The boys say oh lets go makan so we bloody walked all the way to the Sunway Medan Selera...only to find 90% of the shops closed. What do we do next? We walk all the way to the gerai-gerai facing the highway beside Pyramid..madness! had a quick snackie and then we walked all the way back to Pyramid, down to Level 3 to enter Sunway Lagoon's main entrance, only to walk down what seemed to take forever to reach the surf pool. By this time we're all drenched in sweat, its not even funny.

Enter the concert arena.first and foremost I can't believe there wasn't a merchandise stand! not like I had the dosh to buy the PCD jacket I've been eyeing..but it would have been nice to catch a glimpse of it again no. secondly the layout. I think they drained the water out of the surf pool, couldn't really see as there were too many people. Basically the stage was opposite the deep end of the surf pool - for those of you who've stepped into Lagoon you might get a rough idea of what I'm talking about. This was then cordoned off into sections (think like a segment of a pie chart the stage at the pointy end)..the closest to the stage being RM200, followed by a barrier into the RM100 section. I don't know if the RM70 actually had a specific section, I think RM70 gets you in the Lagoon so you kinda just stand anywhere you can.

me with me very own Nicole Scherzinger!

When we arrived, the RM100 section was stuffed like sardines. A lot of us were questioning the organisers choice of location, but I suppose holding it at a surf pool was the only excuse to allow the PCDs to strut in those teeny outfits without JAIS stopping the concert (which I think they still could have if they wanted to - hence the reason for the minimal amount of publicity & promotion?). In that sense, it was well worth paying the extra RM100 to get to the front section.

officially exceeded our workout quota for the year! kevvo, me, farizio and dadakins

So we hang around and wait for the place to fill up. We being the camwhores that we are, take pictures naturally to kill time. They had some "fun" activities before hand, asking some members from the crowd to come up on stage and give their best pussycat impersonation/dance routine. Lets just say if my kid went on stage dancing like some of these underaged girls, she'd be grounded with no telly..serious! t-r-a-s-h-y dude..trashy. a few of them were dancing in uber short skirts n started doing "raunchy" (pls lah leave it to the profesionals) moves. yes crotch flashing aplenty. The boys loved it, I just felt embarassed for the girls. i mean if they looked good doing it its one thing lah..this just..looked real bad.

The opening act was Reshmonu and started late as expected about 8.30ish - Malaysian time right? and this is where it sucked abit coz Resh took a whole hour to perform - not that he wasn't good or anything but maybe it just felt that long cause we were all pretty restless/sweaty/busuk from standing the whole day/night.

i want these dolls buy for me!!

Lo and behold, the Pussycat Dolls come on stage and it gets crazy. Little kids (when I say kids I mean teens lah really) in a straight line of six or seven start pushing themselves to the front, smelly sweaty men also start doing the same. To be honest, we actually saw more from the back as there were less people/pushing and didn't have to risk fainting from dehydration..seriously it was really hot. And I don't like hot!!

while you're at it, get me the pink boots also!

Back to the Dolls..dude these women are not human I swear! They look every inch as perfect (perfect being the subjective stereotypical term here) as they do in videos - rock solid abs, gorgeous hair, skimpy little outfits. I say super human because despite their vigorous popping and dancing, they hardly broke a sweat..that has got to be impossible, right?

Anyway, they performed all their singles (Don'tcha, Beep, Buttons, Stickwitu, Sway) and a few more songs from their album. I was comparing this show to their opening act at the Black Eyed Peas concert in London. In that sense it was a disappointment - no stage sets/props whatsoever, and this was supposed to be their World Tour, not an opening act! I was telling Dada, if you were to put Siti Nurhaliza there instead it would have been the kodiest concert ever. But I suppose to Pussycat Dolls could perform in Pulau Ketam and still rock the show - yep..they were good enough to hold the show all on their own sans fancy sets and costume changes. Nicole looked good in her leopard print bikini-esque top with pink fingerless fishnet gloves and matching shocking pink boots..I lust, I truly do. and she's got a real good voice live as well..I told you..superhuman! Their dance choreography was superb and overall good energy from the Dolls.

Unfortunately the show didn't last very long (yes lah they've only got 1 album no) probably a little longer than Resh's opening act. And at this stage everyone is again tired/sweaty/busuk so no one even encores them to come back on stage (Da..anchor! anchor!!) kesian kan.

So yeah, that about sums up the PCD experience. I don't regret going, but at the same time I feel that they prolly shouldn't have charged that much for tickets. And I read some girls blog who bought the RM100 tickets that security was poor as those from the RM70 were climbing over the barriers into the RM100 and the same for the RM100 into the RM200 zone. Parents should really advise their seriously underage children to skip concerts - its not like they get to see anything, and apparently the crowd got quite rowdy at the RM100 and RM70 zones, so not the safest of places for your children to be at. Fortunately for us, we didn't have any unpleasant incidents so yeah, I had quite abit of fun actually! I'm giving this a three out of five.