Monthly Archives: May 2006

An Ode To Indomee

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So William brought me to this mamak near Taman Bahagia LRT station, where he reckoned that they’d serve food to fix my craving.

Yes, I am a boring mamak person (in terms of food, not conversation, I think…); I go to mamaks and order the same thing. Back then it was nasi lemak (until the allergy to peanuts returned). Then I tried cheese naan and blogged many blog posts about it. Then there was Uncle Lim’s roti bakar.

However, I have found a new food item to benchmark mamaks by:

Indomee.

Indomee, Indomee.

A celebration of mee.

In this day and age where mee goreng is saturated with oil and parsley and onions and prawns and cucumbers and garlic and carrots and other weird things, Indomee is a return to the basics.

Indomee is not about the brand. When you order Indomee at a mamak, you’re not paying for the brand of IndoMie Mi Goreng; you’re paying for them to keep all that junk out. Indomee isn’t the brand; Indomee is the preparation. Indomee is to Maggi Mee as Chinese Fried Rice is to Kampung Fried Rice.

What makes an Indomee?

1) mee
2) the brown sauce, somewhat salty and savoury but does not leave an icky coating on your tongue like Hokkien Mee, and
3) the half-boiled egg “sunny-side-up” egg, or telur mata kerbau (thanks to the well-eatery-travelled KY for the correction.)

Anything else is junk.

You take the jiggling yellow egg yolk, you poke a hole on its surface, and you dribble it all over the mee. The egg yolk mixes with the brown sauce, unleashing the hidden flavor.

You then twirl some strands of mee, slice a bit of floppy egg white and stab it with your fork. Place food in mouth and enjoy!

William wondered what it would be like, with chicken.

I say no!

The essence of Indomee is the principle. Simple, with just three items. No chicken. Chicken distracts. It’s supposed to be a celebration of mee; not mee complementing the chicken. (Similiarly, I believe that Chinese Fried Rice should not have any item bigger than a prawn, like an awkward vegetable stalk.)

The other essence of Indomee is its ease to eat. No parsley, no carrot, no peas, no onions, nothing for any fussy eater. The sauce is not soupy, so there’s no dribble.

The last essence? The softness/floppiness. The mee is soft and springy. So is the egg white. Adding chicken, bacon, sausages, onions makes the meal not as soft and fast to digest.

Options

The waiter will often ask if you want single or double packet, as a single packet is never filling. However, be wise! Having double packet will mean twice the mee, but with only one egg; the ratio of egg yolk to brown sauce will not be optimal.

Hence, you should instead order two Indomee plates, so you get enough egg to go around.

I’m gonna pick up my guitar and write a song.

(P.S. Picture not included because I don’t want to crave Indomee each time I visit my own blog.)

Random Emo Post To Paint Nails Black To

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I have all these voices in my head telling me to do this, to do that. So many things to accomplish, but they contradict each other. Going uphill slow, then crashing and tumbling downhill.

Depressing.

The last thing I need is another book, another opinion because that’s rarely what I want to read.

(Edited add-on): So I was Googling Transformers Cybertron Downshift to find out which muscle car he most looked like, when I stumbled upon the coolest mother, ever. She played bass, listened to proto-punk and drove muscle cars. And her son got a Fender for his birthday!

Troubadours This May

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And now, for a trip down Changkat Bukit Bintang, for the Troubadours gig at La Bodega KL on the 7th of May 2006. This marks the first time I use slow shutter speeds with flash (instead of the default 1/60 seconds) at this venue, always getting frustrated otherwise. (Jamasia has colored lighting, so it’s not so bad.)

They started with the open-mikers first, like Jay, the guy I once said sounded like Billy Corgan singing Kurt Cobain, which I missed. Why? I went to pee at the male toilet upstairs, and couldn’t unlock the door! A guy climbed in from a panel above to break open the handle and unscrew the bolt, but that didn’t work either, until he used the handle to open it again. I came out to some cheers. The guy who was stuck in the toilet!


I came out in time for Khai-Lee who might’ve found it a bit dark to find the guitar frets. 😛


I think this dude was Imam Piko (thanks Mung for the correction!) He received roaring applause. The best display of shared sarcasm. 😀


I think these dudes were Chi Too and Hon Mun on the right. (And yay he can sing.)


I think his name was Amin Hakim (Freedom Film Fest 2005 award-winning filmmaker for Romantik ISA, thanks Mung again!), and he sang bluesy love songs to Azmyl Yunor. (Though I think there are better excuses to get free entry to his gigs. :P)


Mekarnya Satu Matian read some poems, and some could sniff his rapperness from a mile meter away.


Estrella, oh how pretty and sweet voices they had to jazzy beats.


A haw-haw-hawt chick makes up one third of Oddstars.


Alang of alternative-ish grunge unit Men Under Zero Effort is the other third.


Headliner Broken Scar, featuring Zalila Lee on percussion, Jerral Khor on guitar, Kevin on guitar and vocals, and Alda on bass. Subject to change; parts may vary.


Besides singing soundtracks for documentaries that were recently banned despite approval, Zalila also supplies beats.


Justin Wong is recognizable with his black Suzuki acoustic guitar.


Shock System had the white political rap sound. Great guitar riffs and song dynamics. I thought they’d sound like Rage Against The Machine on electric.


Zalila and Jerral back Nicole of Rhapsody for an Alanis Morissette cover. Gig old-timer Peter Hassan Brown then joins for the cover of Time After Time.


Azmyl Yunor takes the after-headliner open mike slot because nobody else wants to play.


These church guys are fantastic, (plus they got stage performing stool persona) and they’re later joined by who I assume is a church girl.

Damn my memory, must be all those drinks people ask my assistance to finish.

Com-Plain Roti None

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Some ex-colleagues rave about the food in my office cafeteria, finding excuses to come over for the classic Chinese Fried Rice. Some current colleagues can’t stand the food here and complain that it never changes.

Till one fine day when we got a memo via email about the new Tandoori Chicken with Roti Naan. Being the Cheese Naan and Tandoori Chicken lover I was, I had to check it out. Besides, where else would you get it during lunch hour? Normal naan-providing eateries only open in the evening. (However, they only served it on Mondays and Thursdays.)


I eagerly awaited Thursday for the debut of the meal set. Sure, the plate isn’t appealing, but which is more important: The tea you drink, or the cup you drink the tea in?

The chicken was excellent, juicy with the right amount of exaggerated crisp. Satay isn’t satay without burnt carcinogens, yes? The mint sauce looked like peppermint with chocolate ice-cream but was good anyway.

However, that was no roti naan – that was a chappati! It sure looked and tasted like the flat, dry bread.

And so, I did something Malaysians would not do.

Complain to the right people.

From: (me)
To: (the sender)
Subject: RE: Cafeteria Special

Hi

Girl(s) At The Rock Show

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What: Rock Chic’s Night Out, ‘A Celebration of Rock Ladies’, a rock gig featuring female performers
Who: Tempered Mental, Candy, Plush, Blunt, Applecreed, Rhapsody
When: 8pm onwards, 12th May 2006
Where: Jamasia, Desa Sri Hartamas
How Much: RM20 with a free beer or soft drink (for guys) and free for girls

Yes I am going. 😀

Cutting (Glass) Edge

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To fix the short-sightedness of my infrared-cut-filter-removed Fujifilm Digital Q1, I needed to place a similiarly sized glass in front of the CMOS sensor, where the infrared cut filter once was.


The closest I could get was this; while it was a tad over 1mm, I could salvage this to make a 9x9x1 mm sized glass piece. Yes, I bought it just for this purpose at SnJ, Avenue K. The other piece of glass could be used for stop-motion photography from under the glass. 😀


I also bought safety goggles and gloves.


…and a tungsten carbide-tipped glass cutter.


I marked the line to be cut with cellophane tape, using the original infrared cut filter to measure. I then scored across the line repeatedly with the glass cutter, so I could easily snap it.


…whoops. I guess I didn’t score it enough.


Never fear! I then used one of the shards, cut it twice, and managed to get close to the size.


And here it is, before reassembly.

The result? Landscape still is out of focus, and its macro is not focused either. 🙁 I’ll just wait for Fazri to find that glass shop.

Long Hair Can Do

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And now, for something different. Albert talks about shampoo!

Ever since I dyed my hair blue, I was not to ever use regular shampoo; I was supposed to use color-lock shampoo.

And so, I bought Sunsilk’s color-lock shampoo, a red bottle of shampoo. What a sham. It wears your dye out faster than you can say ‘senile peacock‘.

It wasn’t until I was wandering around aimlessly in Jaya Jusco Kepong that I called Leech to ask what color-locking shampoo she used to keep her then wonderful purple streaks. She said Loreal. (The voice in my head said, “Because you’re worth it.“)

And so I went home, and upon opening it, I immediately smelled the difference – it was citrus-ish, and yet, strangely appetizing. I applied it to my hair. It seemed to just… absorb into my hair!

Even when washing it off, I could feel the difference. It was silky! It was smooth! It was coated… unlike the Sunsilk one, which just seemed to wash off hair oils, leaving my hair frizzy and unable to hold any position (e.g. tucked.) Plus, after washing off the Sunsilk shampoo, I could see the suds on the bathroom floor stealing my hair color. 🙁

And oh, the smell! As long as they make shampoo smell this good, I will never get to have dreadlocks. (My original plan was to dye my hair, then grow it long and make a mess out of it, getting natural dreadlocks, then going bald.)

The best thing about the shampoo, however, is its fragrance – I just came back from drenching my hair in cigarette smoke at the-now-paying Twilight Action Girl at Zouk, and it managed to get rid of the smell! I usually take two washes to stop smelling like an ashtray.

If you think I’ve gotten a newfound girly fetish with hair, well it is not the shampoo models I covet. My inspiration for my style, long and straight comes from these macho rock bands:

Left: A screen capture of Extreme – More Than Words, featuring vocalist Gary Cherone and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt in a tender ballad, an escape from their funk metal tendencies. Don’t listen to Frankie J‘s version; he made it too much of a vocal showoff, losing the tender acoustic vulnerability of the original. Plus his vocal histrionics made it sound damn gh3y.

Right: A screen capture of Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge, featuring vocalist Anthony Kiedis in this confessional ballad about losing a guitarist to hard drugs, an escape from funk rap rock. All Saints did a good cover of it; they didn’t overdo the vocal histrionics.

Yeah, I think you can see what I’m getting at – strong features with past-shoulder-length hair. I knew my hair was long when I could tuck it under my shoulders.

Yeah yeah so Anthony didn’t dye his hair then; he left the hair-coloring to Flea, who probably never had the same hair color in consecutive music videos! But Flea is blonde, and bleaching his hair would turn it white, so he could have proper blue (like in the By The Way video.)

Transformy pr0n

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And now, for a barrage of Transformer pr0n. No, not tranny pr0n, thank goodness.


This is the closest I’ll ever get to a car blog. The Toyota Supra actually lights up!


No, this is not a Transformer Alternator – in fact, it is a knock-off.


Roadbot transforms like Transformers Alternator Tracks, but without the horribly tight leg pegs. The rear booster bit is now detachable, making transforming a lot easier.


Another innovation would be how the lights from the engine can then be reused on the weapon, to light up the side boosters!


He doesn’t have a bonnet that splits in the middle; instead, they made him a shield. So much cleverer.


And now, for a real Transformer Alternator – Optimus Prime, a Dodge Ram pickup truck.


Blue, red and badass. (Okay, just imagine that his rifle is a sawed-off shotgun instead.)


And here he is, with Sideswipe the Dodge Viper and Windcharger the Honda S2000.


Bluestreak the rally Subaru Impreza, with Tracks (that clunky Chevy Corvette) and Skids the majorly pimpin’ Toyota Scion xB.


Juveniles versus the authority: From left, Grimlock the Ford Mustang GT, Meister the Mazda RX-8, Prowl the American Acura RSX (Honda Integra for the rest of the world) and Hound the Jeep Wrangler.


Here, Optimus is pictured in scale to Skids (left), Hound (right) and Grimlock (in front).


The Dodge SRT-10 family.


The Honda family.


“Autobots, roll out.”


And now, Roadbot makes a guest appearance. Yep, he’s a clunker at 1:18 scale (the Alternators are 1:24 only.)

I intentionally omitted Transformers Alternator Silverstreak in favor of Transformers Binaltech Smokescreen for the photoshoot.


But that’s not all! I only bought one Transformers Cybertron figure and one Transformers Galaxy Force figure because I was collecting motorcycles, but I broke that by getting this major pimpin’ muscle car.


Pimp my ride.


Left: Transformers Cybertron Downshift. Right: Transformers Energon Powerlink Downshift.


Yes, he does look quite like Wheeljack of yore.


He’s smaller, but he’s finally got leg articulation (the older Downshift on the right couldn’t bend at the waist!)


Okay, that’s it. Really.

Flicks For Chicks

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So I watched She’s The Man. Amanda Byrnes plays the man well in this supposed chick flick (which never really struck me as one, as was White Chicks and The Hot Chick). She played the mannerisms very well, with the flighty eyes and very male expressions. She started off delivering her lines too fast (Gilmore Girls anyone?) but got natural soon. Funny and yet observant, a good teen flick.

The football team was cool, because every member looked like a real footballer. Heck, even the manager looked like someone you’d see at the back of a newspaper! Oh and I think Channing Tatum looks like a member of boyband Blue.

Oh, and Olivia is hot. Loved her little nuances like the smirk she did when she first bumped into Amanda. Girls don’t even know they do it!

What are chick flicks? The Princess Diaries, for example. A guy would enjoy Too Fast Too Furious for the girls and the cars, because they’d look at the screen and go, wow. They’d know the cars and geek out about the spoilers and engine sounds etc. As for The Princess Diaries (2, since I didn’t watch the first), I could hear every girl in the cinema geek out as the cupboards opened, revealing tiaras and necklaces. (Just like a guy would go ooo when a drawer opens with machineguns inside.)

Chick flicks are the sensitive antithesises to action movies.

Another sure-fire indicator would be an immensely female-oriented emotional epics that do not engage the interest of heterosexual males. If it does, then it is in the category of romantic comedy. Also, chick flicks take a more sombre tone; tuning down the humor to make sure the message gets across.

A guy would immediately go on defensive upon hearing such titles like Pride And Prejudice, Sense And Sensibility, As Good As It Gets, What Women Want, The First Wives Club etc. What the heck are these movies about?!? Even if we knew that Pride And Prejudice was based on a book, we know that the book isn’t a book about cops and robbers and thus would not be enticed to watch it alone.

Come to think of it, the title itself lends a hint – an object in the title makes the deal for the object-oriented male, who would rather not deal with cryptic titles that allure to concepts, e.g. Monty Python And The Holy Grail versus Pride And Prejudice. We know damn well that when we watch it, there will be a Monty Python, and there will be a Holy Grail. We’ll see the objects on screen represented in color and shape.

Often you can identify this with a poster of two lovebirds. Not all posters with lovebirds are chick flicks; it can be identified by the tendency of the actress to have sweet smiles instead of saucy scenes. Denise Richards is a sure indicator of some hot action (with the exception of I Do (But I Don’t) where she plays a boring wedding planner, and I had the misfortune of seeing her… talent wasted like this on Hallmark.)

Oh, and any love story that shows on Hallmark is most likely a chick flick.

So why am I running off tangent from the intended blog entry about She’s The Man? Must be the chick flicks. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate chick flicks; thrown into a cinema with one and I’d come up with some intelligent analysis of the movie after, I promise!

Star Wars Stars Transformers

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Okay, okay, so I actually got these early April. Here’s to a healthier obsession, approved by the self-appointed emperor of the galaxy. Star Wars Transformers.


Darth Maul is badass.


Boba Fett has a cool helmet. Well, cool enough that he managed to make mundane colors look cool.


From left to right: Obi Wan Kenobi, recolored-twin Anakin Skywalker duke it out against General Grievous.


Before and after: Anakin Skywalker dons the helmet to become Darth Vader.


From left to right: Boba Fett (Slave 1), Luke Skywalker (X-Wing), General Grievous (Wheel Bike), Obi Wan Kenobi (Jedi Starfighter), Darth Vader (Tie Bomber Advanced), Anakin Skywalker (Jedi Starfighter), Darth Maul (Sith Infiltrator).

There are more pictures with the first four arrivals here.

I’m still waiting for Han Solo and Chewbacca, who combine into… the Millenium Falcon! *dies a happy geek*