Piracy at Mid Valley

In most shopping malls, pirated goods are never welcome. Buying such items not only affirms the supports of theft of intelectual property but also, affects the livelihood of those who are working directly or indirectly to the items concerned. However, this week, is a special week and so, where Pirates are concerned, they are very welcome. And these are the ones who knows their, "Aaarrrs" and the art of shivering their timbers.

In anticipation of a sudden flood of fans, the
organisers have thought of an escape plan.

Unfortunately, the Captain seemed
to be at a loss with a Man in Black.

OK, I am having a writer's block so, no words for the next few posts. Man, its so difficult to be coherent nowadays....

Some Pirates from The Outpost was seen trying
to pirate some jewels while the Organisers have
decided to furl up.

The Green Lantern Toys

OK, so Green Lantern is coming. For a person who never read the papers or watch TV much, how I got this information is nothing short of a miracle. It was not even advertised on the Internet, you see. Here, you can see how popular the movie is going to be (the word, 'is' was used because no one knows if its good or sucked yet) from the ways it was advertised:

1) Through the media
OK, if they blast this ad on the TV on every commercial break, it might be a bad movie. And if they have DJ's or local celebrities talking about it, it could be worse than everyone thought. But if you saw them on roadside banners or on bus-stop shelters and the like, chances are, someone is desperate to get your attention to go watch the movie, which in my opinion, the movie could really sucked.

2) Through bloggers
OK, this is a different kettle of fish. If a famous and independent blogger mentions it, chances are, their opinions are true. But if a stupid fat blogger (I wonder who) mentions it, the verdict could be from, "Who the Hell cares" to "This fat blogger is a real POS for dissing my favourite movie which I have yet to see". Or, if you really believe in the blogs set up by those related to the movie, it does not matter if its good or bad.

3) Through word of mouth
If your trusted bestest and best of friends said it was good, chances are, it will be brilliant unless you consulted an Astrologer who would say the passing of the Planet Neptune in conjunction with his bad bio-rythmn reavealed he fell asleep in the cinema. And if you heard it from someone whom you do not like because his sister's/friend's mother's dog said it was good, don't bother. But if you hear this from someone who hated the movie and the verdict is good, then it will be fantastic.

4) Through Uncle Ho's Angents
If they say its good, buy first then ask later.


OK, so, I cheated and went to Toys 'r Us instead. And from the decorations, I think the movie is going to suck. I mean, the toys were placed in a small shelf, away from the front entrance which is bloated with the new Transformer toys which the movie has yet to arrive.

OK, for RM129.90, you have a nice little
figure but after a while, it reminds you of
those simple 90's Star Wars figures which
has square crotches. However, the only
saving grace was the extremely bright
green LED on the arm. I am not sure why
they even pack a green phalic massager
in there.

The next toy shows you how the movie is going to suck.
This yellow glob of phlegm is Parallax. I have not followed
the comics after the original Green Lantern, which is Hal
Jordan, became the Parallax. In this movie, this is Parallax.

Does this look familiar to you? A disk shooter?
Although its not, but I keep thinking that this
was a Transformers toy reject. Still, it does
look nice, as some Sci-Fi grenade launcher.

OK, Hal Jordan and his transforming battle suit.
Yawn. I just hate it when they do this. Include
those toys with accessories and some green
battlesuit/gun/harpoon/water suit, etc. This
idea was Made famous since those Batman
toys. Let's paint a toy car green and call it
the Green Lantern Mobile!

And in there, was the Green Lantern Ring but no, it
does not light up. On the middle is a subtle screw to
tell you boys and girls that you have been screwed.
Actually, you need to wear this ring on your fourth
finger and stick it in there to power up the toy.

OK, finally. A decent figure for RM99.90.
And no ring. Just parts you 'collect' to
build a yellow phlegm... thingy.

Maybe its a rare one since it was the
only one left. But to me, RM49.90 is
a lot of money. The last time, a Star
Wars 3.75 inch figure costs Rm39.90
and it was already expensive. But this
is plain daylight robbery. And yes, the
right does not light up at all.

The real reason I was there was because I have read from a Forum that Toys 'r Us are selling individual Power rings for USD9.99. But somehow, even before I stepped into the shop, I know things are too good to be true. Guess I was right because it was not being sold here and Toys 'r Us Malaysia is not the same as Toys 'r Us in the US.

Oh well. Oh, and don't let me get started on the Power ring's recharging Lantern as I already hated the suit... Somehow, I think the movie is going to suck but secretly, I just hope I am wrong, being an on/off Green Lantern fan and all.

Danger in Mid-Valley

This is a warning for Parents who bring their children to Mid-Valley. Never ever let your kids, especially girls, wander to the third floor. This is because the area from the Centre Court towards the Cinema has a very dangerous shop which is not meant for the sufferers of anorexic wallets.

You have been warned. Your wallets will empty.
Kids will throw tantrums and you will actually
wished that you had used a condom instead.

Good Morning!

Good Morning! You guys have
to go to work and school and
I don't!

From Bruce

Well, I am stumped. No, not the tree stump removing kind. But more of a, "OMG. This has happened to me!". You don't get it? OK, here is another scenario; Think of yourself as an 8-year old kid and Michael Jackson was suddenly standing in front of your bedroom. That would be more or less the feeling you would get. I mean, sure, Michael Jackson was everyone's perfect idol so you would be happy but at the back of your mind, his tales of Neverlandand, his skin condition and kids would really make you uneasy.

But not for me.

Mine is like an 8-year old rushing to the toilet only with the most beautiful woman in the World, standing on the doorway, blocking my way. OK, OK. That was not real, here is something more realistic; Steve Jobs handing me a spiked club asking me to hit him until my arms are tired.

And so, that was how I felt because Bruce has given me a Revell Starfury MKi Model kit. And at that time, I missed the boat, because it was very difficul to get them in Malaysia. Sure, you have other models like the B5 station but never the Starfury. Even the Micro Machines versions were picked off, faster than you can lose weight by just drinking water. And before you know it, the series was cancelled, the models were gone and also, you were still wondering what happened.

And so, finally, I have this Starfury in my hands. After
so much searching, its here in my hands. Back when the
days of when eBay was still in its infancy and PayPal does
not exist for most of us here.

Bruce also went to his garage and ripped out all the
unwanted car seats for me. That statement sounds
unbelievable if I did not show you the picture above.
But you'd know its me because you'd know we do not
have a cars big enough to transport all these seats....

Close but no cigar.
The figure on the left is a 1/20 pilot from a Seaquest
model while the chair on the right is the 1/20 scale
from a Hasegawa Falke. And in the middle, yes, is
Bruce's 1/24 seat.

Which is not a problem for me because I am
planning to use 1/24 figures and not 1/20. I
mean, you would have a hard time making
people believing you that those were baby
seats... in a... tank. Yeah, right.

Yep, I am still stumped. If I had know better, I would have peed on the nake lady....

Victim of hit and run

See Bird,
See Bird fly.

See Car,
See Car fly,

See Bird and Car,
Where is the Bird?

The Police torchlight

After lunch, I decided to walk around the area for awhile and I stumbled onto this very nice torch. And I thought to myself, "Perhaps its time to get another torch." since its already time to get another torch. The weird thing is, I actually agreed to it since it was based on two factors:

1. It is black in colour
2. It is the last one.
3. It has a very funny lens.

And I am never wrong.

And so, for Rm14.80 plus a few cheap ringgits,
I got the torch and some suspicious looking AAA
batteries. Suspicious because anything from that
shop comes from China. Direct 2 U.

It was then when I examined the lens closely
did I notice its 'features'. Wow.

When you pull the lens away from you,
it sort of magnified the LED inside.

And when you push it back, the torch goes to
normal mode. Don't understand?

But here is the effect.
This one is when I pulled
the Lens outwards

And this is when I pushed
it inwards.

Which is fine until I showed this to Kenny a week
later and he turned the lens upside down. So, when
you pulled the lens away from you, this is what you
will see....

And t hen there is the thing about its switch. Press it once, you have a very bright light. Turn it off and press is again, the light is now half the brightness. Turn it off and then press is again, the light works, then does not work, then works, and does not work, then works....

Happy Wesak Day

Today is Wesak Day. Today is also, by coincidence, where it happened to be a Holiday. Whether it is Public or not, is up to the individual. But nevertheless, it is a Holiday. Which also means my driving to work would be blissful since there would not be so many cars on the road.

But I did not drive to work today.

Why? Because today is Wesak Day.

So, we went to the Maha Vihara Temple in the early morning or rather, in the earliest time I could wake up before getting a Kung-Fu kick from the Wife or, being woken up by the girls, whichever is worse.

Funnily enough, there were a lot of police personnel
stationed there. By in light of the recent events such
more Perkasa announcements and the covert death
of someone in Pakistan, I'm not suprised.

But there is am immediate effect to that because
there were no signs of beggars at the gates, and
so, I could not donate some things to them.

Halfway through, there was a procession where, the

Priest walked to the stage to deliver his speech

After his speech, we continued with our program

And this time, the atmosphere is
very nice and cooling even though
it is almost late morning.

And surprisingly, the crowd, although
large, was actually bearable. But this
time, there were more photographers
than normal. I wonder why...

The the girls went up to a stage and did their prayers

They were so cute, some photographer kept
taking photos of them.

This is where we start to collect the Holy Water
and also, being blessed again.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a commotion and
well, you start to get the feeling that something
official is coming in. They even have a Lion Dance
which is very weird for this time of the year.

Yep. And all sorts of 'freak attractions' start their way
in and onto the main stage.

With all the hoo-haa, everyone wondered what the
commotion was all about. But it turned out to be just
nothing. I mean, you have Police presence, some
body guard looking chums and friends but there
was no one important for all I can see. Oh well,
back to the program.

And then girls came back to the stage for one nice
little photo.

On our way out, even the Lion dance people are
packing up as if nothing important really happened.
Everyone was wondering, "what was that all about?"

As the Sun was really coming out,
we tried to take as much photos as
possible near the fountain. But the
lighting was very harsh.

Temptation came and I followed, so I bought
one of these (I forgot the name). Its actually
some vegetable deep-friend it batter and its
hot. Spicily hot. Immediately, my favourite.

Then on to another store and i got more of these
as it has been years since I had some. And yes, I
also forgot the name of this...delicious delicacy.

Then I also relented and bought
Kaelynn a balloon. Just one as I
told Kristine that she is getting
to be a big girl... the look on her
face was priceless but I saved a
few ringgit. Ha ha ha ha.

We stopped by a shady spot for the
girls to drink some water as the Sun
by now, is very very hot. Kaelynn is
showing her affection to her new toy.

And the girls tried my two packets of deep-fried
stuff. Initially, they loved it but when it got too
hot, both of them were rushing for more water.

Which is funny because I did not tell them that
it was hot. They loved it until the realised it was
hot. But if I told them it was hot in the first place,
they would not even tough it. Get the meaning?

Another 200 metres and we stopped where the girls
finished my two packets of that deep-fried stuff, plus
more Monster Mee too...

First time I have seen a Police helicopter up close.

After the prayers, I realised that I am still very 'early'. And since I took the whole day off, I decided to go back to the office and work for the rest of the day. The funny thing was, when I reached the office, it was almost lunch-time. What I did not realise was, that everyone took the day off AFTER lunchtime. In the end, only myself and a Manager was in the office...

And for lunch, I decided to eat out. Tofu, baked beans
and some nice spicy spinach. Yum-yum. Hey, at least
with the beans, if I want to fart the whole day, no one
is going to notice it anyway.

Yep, accidentally ordered a Permanis. You can see
the opening tab that looked like an angry face, reflecting
my stupidity.