And I begin by saying I hate you, Tesco.

This book was launched last 4th December. My sister pre-ordered it at Border’s, so she could get it at 20% off, which is about RM32++. And then we have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows all over again: giant hypermarkets decided to sell it cheaper. The Deathly Hollows was initially sold by bookstores at RM109.90, which is what my sister and I paid when we pre-ordered it from MPH. But Carrefour, Tesco, etc decided to sell it for RM69.90. Similarly, NST reported last Sunday that Tesco is selling it for oh, RM28.99?

I’m being picky, yeah, but it’s still annoying nonetheless. Anyway, moving on, the book. Yes, I’ve read somewhere it has become this year’s best selling book, selling at the rate of one copy per 2 seconds worldwide. Although it was launched just last 4th Dec to the public, there was a copy auctioned last year to amazon.com at £1.95 million. The most expensive modern literature manuscript….. in the world.

Is it good? Well, yes actually. I’d say it is a great compliment to those who have all 7 Harry Potter books. Better still, we can buy this book knowing well we’re helping those less fortunate, as any profits from it will be channeled to charity.

There’s 5 stories inside, of which the last one, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”, had been read in the Deathly Hollows. So in a sense, the book only contained 4 new stories….. and commentaries by Albus Dumbledore after every story.

Surprisingly, I saw a top 10 list in The Sun the other day, this book was not in the top 10 best-selling fiction. Lack of media exposure? Certainly, the launch of this book was no front page news unlike Deathly Hollows last year, albeit for an unintended reason ie bookstores vs hypermarkets war.

Oh, today’s Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone!! I really should stop becoming like that wizard with a hairy heart, and start becoming more like his friends. That’s right, I might need a girlfriend. It’s seriously boring to stay at home cuz everybody else are going out on a date or something, though, it gives me time to write this post. Oh well, new year’s eve gonna be different this year hopefully. Saiful, we’re going to The Curve, riiiiiight?

The best book…..evar. And I have it, the hard cover version. For just GBP10, YEAAAAHHHH!!!

The only problem then would be volume 1, which is the only “The World According To Clarkson” series that I have in paperback, heheh. Bah, I should check out what “Born To Be Riled” is all about, whereas a flick through of “Don’t Stop Me Now” revealed that it was a collection of car reviews he wrote for Sunday Times, which means I’ve read most of it as part of my Sunday morning reading. Nevertheless, I might want to buy it later to complete my precious collection of JC’s books lolololol. That’s right, I have “I Know You Got Soul”, “Motorworld Clarkson”, “Clarkson On Cars”, “The World According to Clarkson”, and “The World According to Clarkson 2: And Another Thing…” (hard cover, costed me RM104.50. The rest are paperback) I’m proud of them yohohoho, much like how environMENTALists are proudly parking their “I told you so” face when the news of Antartic being an island now was out.

“The World According To Clarkson” series are in fact, a collection of Sunday column he writes for Sunday Times too. Judging by the pattern of archiving every two years IIANM, we’ll next see “The World According To Clarkson 4″ around early 2010 I suppose. It doesn’t really matter getting newer volume(s) I suppose, unlike other chronicled book like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc where you’ll definitely need to start from volume 1. Of course, it is a non-fiction unlike others, although err….it’s filled with lots of fictional metaphores n sarcasm the Clarkson way. But hey, THAT is the very reason we all love him soooo much. While other motor journalists talk of torques and boot space to justify the car they like (which are often sheez), JC will say “it’s rubbish” if it’s rubbish, and proceeds to make a one-liner that’s enough to tickle many for hours. Better still, Clarkson can talk about the social issues that bogs down Britain. Way doooooown from the days when they were err…..better.

Back here in Malaysia, our Malaysian JC has been arrested in ISA for over a month already. Which gives all the more reason why we’re gonna have recession. That. is. inevitable. In Britain, loudmouths like JC makes sure the people are extremely tough on the govt for every stupid thing Mr Brown did (even though JC lashed out more on the people than on Mr Brown). Here, it takes a disaster, maybe (political or innocent children) death for those idiots to realise how stupid they are. That said, I fucking hate National Service (thank God I was never selected).

I mean seriously, I’ve never read a front page news as stupid as today’s The Star for a long time -the one about Jalan Alor becoming Jalan Kejora. Right, if a non-muslim MP changes road sign in arabic letters no modern Malaysian use anymore into Martian letters, she’ll get ISA, but if the KL mayor fancy spreading Bukit Bintang stardom into the whole city, it’s all right even if it’s at the cost of confusing some Austweeeyians. Somebody please shoot the mayor. Sadistically.

On another matter, I came across a J.Drama title that might be familiar with “Attention Please”. It’s called “Shinkansen Girl”, Misaki-chan all over again, except on a bullet train? Well, ‘fraid not, cuz the main heroine is played by Becky, and I know her from Nodame Cantabile SP as Tanya, the Russian pianist (even if her father’s British and her mother’s Japanese). Argh….why’s nobody subbing it on Crunchyroll zzz =.=

Air stewardess ja nai, Ka been At ten dan to da.

Attention Please is about a slighty tomboyish and rather bullheaded heroine who starts on a journey to become a Cabin Attendant. Everyone around her seems to think that she’s not suited to the job and will ultimately fail. But to what limits is she willing to push herself?

Title: アテンションプリーズ
English: Attention Please
Episodes: 11

Broadcast network: Fuji TV
Broadcast period: 2006-Apr-18 to 2006-June-27
Theme song: “OH PRETTY WOMAN” by Kaela Kimura

CAST

– Ueto Aya as Misaki Yoko
– Nishikido Ryo as Nakahara Shota
– Maya Miki as Mikami Tamaki
– Aibu Saki as Wakamura Yayoi
– Uehara Misa as Hirota Saori
– Koizumi Koutaro as Tsutsumi Shuusuke
– Kohinata Fumiyo as Sakurada Shinya
– Otsuka Chihiro as Sekiyama Yuki
– Nanase Natsumi as Kinoshita Asami
– Ootomo Minami as Higashino Haruka
– Yoo Min (Fueki Yuko) as Asou Kaoru
– Takahashi Mariko as Kagawa Reiko
– Koichi Mantaro as Watanabe Makoto
– Asano Kazuyuki as Wakamura Shozo
– Inoue Jun as Dazai Shinichiro
– Mano Yuuko as Murayama Mizuho
– Hoshino Natsuko as Takemoto Rie

Phew, I haven’t watch an enjoyable Jdrama, let alone a new one, for quite awhile since The Last Lawyer, which admittedly is kind of a disappoinment. I was attracted to it solely because of Abe Hiroshi, which has gotta be the best Jdrama actor ever!! Well, the good news is, his acting is brilliant as a poor lawyer (he’s always more suitable as a poor or very pitiable clownish character, doesn’t he?), but the plot kinda lacked variety aside from solving cases, I mean like, I was expecting to see more than that (it’s Abe Hiroshi goddamit!! Why can’t they explore more of his character outside his career?), and then the bloody sub!! OMFG, it’s the most rubbish subbing ever, I ended up hardly understanding half of the the series, as if it’s not made hard enough with almost every actor/actresses speaking 93656234 words/sec. Fansub, really is the way for subbing, while official ones deserve to make losses for their lackadaisical attitude towards helping non-Japanese speaker like me to understand it (I bought a pirated one btw since downloading it is painstakingly hopeless, which is ripped from official DVD).

Anyway, moving on, I encountered this great series at 8tv on one Sunday afternoon. Thank God, I’m absolutely an Ueto Aya fan now!!! Aya-chan kawaii~~!!!

Beyond Misaki Yoko, this series is a great look into the way Japan Airline (JAL) run about their business Japanese style. The cabin attendant training, strict to miniscule details like how to bow, hand positions when serving passangers etc; the maintenance technicians, a single pen lost in the hangar means no work at all continues to prioritise safety. Uncountable apology bows and “mosyiaki gozaimasen” is as routine as breathing to them. One has to wonder…… all looks very strict and efficient, just how greater other airlines are to be able to outwit the Japanese? That includes us, Malaysian (MAS is ranked 6th best airline 2008)!! For this brief moment, it does make me proud to be Malaysian!! Malaysia boleh~!! I mean it, I’m seriously not being sarcastic there!!

Whenever there’s a motoring discussion, the Japanese’s achievement would be attributed to their culture of excellence and hard work. It pisses me off sometimes that some people chose to conveniently lay the blame on culture. While there may be truth to it, culture can be flexible and changable. They want change, they got it. Proton has never got any better than today since a man from Daihatsu proxy in Malaysia came and “Japanise” it. But when it does happen, they refused to acknowledge it at all.

Perhaps then, Proton can learn something from MAS. Manufacturing-wise, they should continue the Japanisation process, but service-wise, MAS demonstrate that we can put the Japanese to shame. Proton can go beyond the Japanese car manufacturers then theoretically, yohohoho. Hang on, actually…..it maybe can lol!! Gambatte Proton!!

MAS certainly puzzled me. Back in 2005, they posted RM1.25billion in losses, but last year they made their greatest profits ever at RM852million. That said, the losses still left them severely affected 3 years ago, well, any company would. It takes someone very crazy and stupid to dare go and save it. Somebody with a can-do personality like Misaki Yoko perhaps? Erm….more like Malaysia Boleh spirit I reckon yohohoho. Kudos to Datuk Idris Jala, your ability to turn it around is certainly a feat recognised as world standard, even awarded. That certainly made me respect him to a level of how much I respect Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin, the current Proton MD, who is probably the man I respect most in Malaysian corporate world. Today, MAS is ranked world’s 6th best airliner by Skytrax for 2 years in a row. Interestingly, back in 2005 when they had their worst financial year, they were still able to be ranked world’s 6th best airliner. MAS is still among the only 6 airliners which have 5-star airliner ranking alongside Singapore Airline (SIA), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong-based), Asiana (Korea-based), Kingfisher (India-based), and Qatar Airways. Attention Please is like a JAL advertising to the world of how efficient they are and all when the Japanese do it their way. MAS went billions in losses, then went to even awarded the Phoenix award for the world’s best airline-turnaround story in 2007 by Penton Media’s Air Transport World, and all along throughout, consistently maintained to be among the elite 5-star airliner and in top 10 world’s best airliner. MAS’s achievement made JAL look very, veeeery average. Amazingly stunning.

Right right, now here comes the cynics, yes, I know, many would disagree of MAS’s recognition because they’ve eaten cold meals with little variety to choose from, too much cost-cutting here and there, etcetc and the fact that AirAsia pwned them domestic-wise and that if AirAsia to run all the international flights MAS do, MAS can be completely written off. But think about it: if even with all those issues in MAS makes them 6th best, ironing the problems out woud definitely get MAS ranked better, maybe even beating the 2008 world’s best airline, SIA perhaps? It needs better governance then, which means to ask the invisible hands of federal govt and their cronies to completely GTFO and allow MAS to run purely business-like befitting of its premium 5-star airliner recognition, not cutting corners which affected their service due to the need to cover their “leakages” caused by those invisible hands, which have also messed up our currency value against USD. Tony Fernandes sees that in SIA, so DSAI, this is definitely what you must attain as the soon-to-be 6th Malaysian Prime Minister: Competitive, Accountability, Transparency (CAT) government. You’ve promised to be a good, non-hypocritical muslim, right?

All hail DSAI!!
All hail DSAI!!
All hail DSAI!!

Wow, I’ve gone that far analyzing the aviation industry after watching Attention Please…..and able to discover that Malaysia do have quite something, yaay *clap*clap*. Definitely a much needed positive morale boost, what’s more at times when the current govt is getting stupider by the millisecond.

Attention Please is subbed by Kioku fansub, or you may watch it at crunchyroll subbed by Killar. It has 11 episodes plus 2 specials where they went to Hawaii and Australia. Some screenshots from Australian Special:

Misaki-chan, nice shirt there. She was first introduced as a lead singer of her band group which eventually disbanded in the first episode, and to my surprise, Ueto Aya is a singer in the real world too -she has sold over 800,000 copies of all her albums and singles combined!!

Tsutsumi-kun, the playboy co-pilot played by Koizumi Koutaro. Can you actually believe he’s the ex-Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi’s son?

Sekiyama-chan banzai!! Wow, I’d really wish I can be like her……doing that to our PM’s son-in-law…..except maybe with a sledgehammer + chainsaw + lightsaber.

So he’s not been flirting around actually since being together with Sekiyama-chan. All he did, is so that he can be a captain when facing Sekiyama-chan’s father, a captain himself. Bravo, Tsutsumi-kun!!

Sekiyama-chan proposed <3<3<3 …well, sort of. Gotta wait for Tsutsumi-kun to become a captain, desyo?

Misaki-chan, you’ll need to defeat Asiana Airways then, the current world’s best cabin staff. Your company meanwhile, needs to surpass us first before going against SIA. Are you up for it? Bwahahahaha. Quite nice uniform they have though, gotta love their scarf especially…..but hey, MAS’s kebaya uniforms are great too

Singapore’s there!! Where’s Malaysia?!?! Boohuhu… and… do Saudi Arabian and Chinese cabin attendants really wear like that in airplanes?

It’s the fasting month, and yet, it doesn’t feel like it at all. Not when even the Islamic bodies are out on assault against Raja Petra aka RPK. Apa ni, pi la berdakwah to “pendatang”, pi la buat forum utk kembalikan orang Islam balik ke “jalan yang benar”, ni diorg pun mau main game politikus. Kata bulan posa masa utk cari pahala berlipat ganda etc, ni pi cari pasal ada la. poorah.

Thank God I found this book. This is probably the best thing I have stumbled this month, a great anecdote to those who’re convinced that our country is becoming the next Zimbabwe. Lydia Teh, begs to differ. She has successfully chronicled the everyday events and happenings of a typical Malaysian life, and point the funny aspect of it. As the saying goes, “rock rain” is better than a “gold rain” after all.

Like say, she wrote about her American expat friend who noticed that we have an obsession for food, I reckon that if she had written a prequel book, she might realise that Malaysians are now obsessed with blogs and politics (heck, she even wrote about “confessions of a blog addict”, but it had nothing related witht the fact that Malaysians are now the world’s most populous blogger). Now, even Tony Fernandes is a blogger. He must be the first CEO blogger I suppose. Hip hip hooray!! Bloggers unite!! His call for Malaysians to be more positive is very timely, absolutely fit to be his first official post entry.

On to another blogger, Raja Petra. As he puts it, Malaysia Today’s “death” is only a signal that we’ve won!! Yeh, yeh, kita menang!! Home minister had been saying ‘warning letters’ had been issued ‘many times’ and they were all ‘ignored’, so how come he couldn’t specify how many? Present an example of these ‘warning letters’?

He also said RPK had been ‘insulting Islam, muslims, prophet Muhammad’, I couldn’t help but laughing from noon to break fast time. Make your own conclusion on who’s the real people who’ve insulted ‘Islam, muslims, prophet Muhammad’ so badly, they’d refuse to apologise to the Malaysians of Chinese ethinicity for calling them ‘pendatang’ (immigrants).

Well, that’s Malaysian for me. And seeing the positive side of every event. HONK!!!

Now I want to make it absolutely plain that I was overall quite disappointed with Ironman. Prior to watching it, reviews everywhere claim “it’s the movie of the year”, “better than Transformers”, etc. I’m sorry, I reckon if you ask a 3-year-old “Which is cooler? A truck which can transform into a giant talking robot and fight to protect humanity or a hero inspired by tinman in Alice in Wonderland?”, he/she’ll tell you the former. The Ironman was considered great by many becuz the hero drives an Audi R8.

Big deal. Batman drives the batmobile and Lamborghini Murcielago LP640. NOW we have THE movie of the year, ok? And of course, there’s The Joker, played brilliantly by the late Heath Ledger. Honestly, Ledger wasn’t in the movie at all. I could only see The Joker in the movie. Borrowing his quote, why so serious? Now we have a serious contender to Darth Vader as “movies’ best villain ever” poll, agree?

I’ve been addicted to the soundtrack lately. The dark theme brought by Christopher Nolan is just fitting at dark times like now with excessive politicking in Malaysia and I see many despair surrounds me.