Wardrobe Boo-boo

Sometimes, you just throw on some clothes and rush out the door without glancing the mirror. Other times, you check your face and hair only, or perhaps just the front of your clothing. I have had my shares of wardrobe malfunctions. Here are some wardrobe boo-boo from my own experiences and also the fashion police of the celebrities.

1. Low-slung pants or jeans
They are too low then your navel will be shown if you're wearing a short T-shirt. In our society, we should cover up properly (tutup aurat) if possible. Therefore, my Muslim colleague will point this out to me if it happens.
Not forgetting, if you happen to wear granny panties (not v-back panties), you can see the horrible fabric protruding out of your pants. For this malfunction, I rarely see people informing you. Unless you purposely, want to show off your thong. That's another story.
2. White bra underneath black knitwear top
I never thought much of how bad wearing this could be till I saw my own pictures. Two headlights which captured the attention of any viewer. Sigh. I noticed Brooke Shields did the same thing too.
3. Thin, sheer fabric with lacy bra
This was not intentional. I didn't realised my top was that sheer till all you see is the lacy pattern of my bra. I happen to NOT bring my jacket along that day so my guy colleague subtly commented on it. Sigh, luckily I could borrow an extra sweater from my female colleague. It wouldn't have mattered, if you were Britney who intentionally wanted to show off her bra.
4. Bikini panties with white or cream-coloured tight pants.
This is the VPL (visible panty line) problem. Obviously, it looks nicer with a smooth butt outline instead of the obvious lines of your undergarment. But then again, if your butt is not that taut, avoid wearing light-coloured tight pants. You'll end up showing everyone your lumpy, bumpy butt. Honest! (I have avoided this... :P unless I can do more lunges to tone up my butt!!)
5.Button-down Shirts
Somehow, button-down shirts are not designed for women. The middle button at the chest will conveniently pop open to expose your bra for all to see and more, if you're not wearing any. :P
6.Zippers tragedy
What do you do when your zipper of the pants fail? I would use safety pins. What if amazingly the hook above also come off? I would still use safety pins. Or better yet, throw that pants away and use the extra one in my car. :P

7.Undergarment exposed
Sometimes, I wear petticoats under some thin-fabric skirts. Once I wore it without realising my skirt had a very high slit at the back, almost reaching the bottom of my butt. Imagine seeing someone walking down with her petticoats exposed! Luckily I realised it when I walked into the office and immediately removed it. Phew!
8.Exposed
This is the most common and typical celebraties' wardrobe malfunction. Wearing too skimpy and revealing; then over-revealing themselves through many means. The most popular and widely publicised would be Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl in 1st February 2004.
9.No bra under "transparent top"
This mistake was done by celebrities and captured by the fashion police. You don't need special x-ray glasses or eyes to see this.
10. No panties
This is done by so many celebrities that they started circulating their pictures by email too. They conveniently let it free below there and when they climb out of their car, all is exposed!
Any many many more wardrobe malfunctions can happen at the snap of your finger.

Just a thought and a reminder to you whenever you leave your room: take a good look at yourself all around in front of the mirror to catch any boo-boo you don't want to find yourself exposing to everyone to see! ;)
After all, how many of you are willing to point out to a person that mistake? Hence, if it is you, imagine how embarrassing it is when people leave you walking around with that wardrobe malfunction like below. *shiver* Good luck!

080808

What's the big deal with 080808?

In Malaysia, it is a big deal. Many Chinese in particular are rushing to marry or registered on such an auspicious date. It is because, I quote from Wikipedia, The word for "eight" (八，捌) in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat" and "faat". Therefore, triple eight constitutes to triple wealth and fortune! ;)

In fact, there is this website in Malaysia, whereby people are encouraged to post their wedding pictures to show the collection of mosaic of marriages on this auspicious date. Wait till 090808, then you can see the number of married couple on that auspicious day through the images posted in that website.

Well, it is considered a big deal since when you think, "When will the next time the date will be 080808? Would you be able to live till then?" This twentieth century started out with dates from 01010 to 080808. Every year onwards till 2012, we will get the triple digit date. Therefore, these uniques dates mark many events and occasions.

I noticed that even hotels are taking this opportunity to profit to the maximum. For a Chinese wedding dinner (10 seats per table), it will cost around RM500 to RM1500 (depending on the location of the dinner). For hotels in Klang Valley these days, wedding dinners are charged above RM1000 per table.
I heard from my friend, on this particular date, 080808, the price doubled. It cost the bride and bridegroom an extra RM1000 per table. Therefore, go do the maths and imagine how much they have to fork out for the event. (I wonder if the guests who gives the ang pau will consider this, in deciding the amount for the ang pau).

Besides the steep price, booking a venue for your wedding dinner on this particular day must have taken at least a few years ahead, I presume. Normally, my friends told me on normal days or "auspicious" dates, you need to book at least a year ahead.

In fact, hotels are also coming up with simple dinner on such a day with themes like "080808 Prosperity Dinner". I caught a banner beside a hotel advertising this special 080808 dinner. I wonder if the price of the dinner will cost RM888? ;)
Therefore, would you make your 080808 this year a special day with an elaborate celebration like you would do on New Years? Or will it just pass on as another day in your life? It's up to you, but I bet there will be fireworks at night! ;)

Oh yeah, what about the babies born on this auspicious day? Imagine the kid proudly telling his/her friends, "I was born on 080808!!" ;)
As if 080808 equals to luck, just like association of 007 with James Bond.

Fireflies

When I was younger, a little firefly somehow got all the way to my house. We stared in awe at the little light it was emitting. (Fascinated, like how the caveman were when they first discovered fire!)

I finally got the chance to see the fireflies in its habitat. Kuala Selangor is famous for the fireflies (kelip-kelip in Bahasa Melayu). Tourists thronged down there just to catch a glimpse of these flickering lights and eat local seafood.

We were brought to eat seafood before the ride at Firefly Park Resort. The food was cooked for the bus loads of tourists; so go figure how it taste. The dishes consists of something like vegetable soup, fried squid, steamed fish, sweet-sour crab, butter prawn, fried vegetables and etc.

It cost RM12 for an adult for a supposedly, 30 minutes long boat ride along the river.
At the little jetty, a crowd was already swarming there from local tourists to foreigners from overseas. We were given number 41 in a hand drawn paper. They were only calling number 4.
I noticed that some foreign tourist at the front of the "queue" were demanding the numbers people held before they let them go through to the front. Obviously, they have been waiting for sometime and there was no proper system in calling out turns except a holler from the front. The Japanese group looked puzzled when they were stopped by the ah moh's group who was right at the front.

Fortunately, we came in a group under a company trip so we were given a go after 10 minutes since we already booked earlier. Therefore, we escaped the wrath of those foreign tourist who looked puzzled and wondered what kind of company we were from to be given such special privilege to go first.

As we took turns to enter the boat(which was battery powered to avoid making loud noises to startle the fireflies), I noticed it was a little bright that night, even though I couldn't see the moon. Thankfully, the rain had stopped and only made the jetty wet and slippery. It didn't spoil the night for us.

The magically ride started and a tree was lit up like a Christmas tree. A few whispers behind commented it was faked. Sort of spoil the mood.

Few minutes down, more trees were lit up by the fireflies. They really looked like little yellow lights on the Christmas trees at night. I noticed it was silent as the battery operated boat purred silently on the river. A distant blinking light from the other boat showed another sign of life on the river.

After a few minutes, the magic was gone and inconsiderate passengers started chit-chatting behind the boat. Sigh.

I tried to recaptured the magic and imagined if there were little fairies living in the darkness. Their enchanted kingdom were lighted with these fireflies, who occasionally escaped to earth to forage some other food and create an attraction in Kuala Selangor. :P


The boat turned around and I started to look into the darkness of trees. The grayish water was still. Someone commented if there were crocodiles in the river. At a distant, I can see the small jetty with loud voices as they tried to create order at calling the turns. A loud ruckus of squabbling monkey near the jetty disturbed the silent of the night. Must be a household squabble, I thought. ;)

The magic was definitely over. I find it rather sad to wait and "fight" for your turn to experience the boat ride and only enjoy a few seconds of the magic. As we alighted from the boat and left the jetty, we noticed a tree with the fireflies.

To think the crowd were cramped in the little jetty to go out into the river to see the fireflies when there they were, up in the tree just next to the jetty. How ironic and naughty they are! Like little pixies in fairy tales.

Alas, I think it's an experience you must experience once. Perhaps if you want to savour the magical moment, try a smaller boat ride offered by some resorts, who will leisurely row up the river for you instead of this commercialised service. :P

Do take note, that fireflies are endangered creatures here.
I wonder, when will they create a cartoon character called Firefly! Instead of our low-budget carrier Firefly.

Service with a smile?

When you enter a hotel or any other accommodation, you expect to be greeted by a polite front desk when you check-in to your hotel room. After all, you are a paying customer. You expect a level of service and at least the basic room for you to sleep at night.

Well, last weekend, I checked in to the only 3 star inn in Kuala Selangor. Service was acceptable for an inn of 3 star. I will not comment much as other visitors have already mentioned in some reviews.

However, I have to have my say about the room condition. Upon checking in, I realised the split-unit air-con is very noisy - like a loud engine. My roomie made a complaint to the front desk.

In the afternoon, they sent a maintenance guy who went about servicing the air-con. Obviously, it didn't help because it was still that noisy and there were an additional squeaky sound. The guy promised to return with the proper equipment. My roomie made a second complaint and the front desk promised to send another maintenance guy.

That night, we had our seafood dinner and the boat ride to watch the fireflies. It was about 9pm. I had my showered and the air-con is obviously still noisy. My roomie came back to tell me the front desk promised to send another maintenance guy. They couldn't give us another room because it was supposedly "fully occupied".

Sigh. Obviously, they weren't going to do anything. I made a video clip of the air-con with the noise as seen below to have my say since my roomie was not assertive enough in complaining.
Can you sleep with this kind of noise? This image was taken in potrait. Sorry, don't know how to edit video clips yet.

Anyway, as I walked from my chalet to the front desk, I slowly let my anger simmer and boil. After all, how on earth can you make a point looking sane and polite? Sad to say, I had to resort to this.

The conversation was something like this (we spoke in Bahasa Melayu but I'll translated it to English here):

Front desk: Yes? May I know the problem? Ohh, room 221?
Me : Yes, may I know what you are going to do about this?
Front desk: Please wait, we will send someone to check on your room.
Me : Sir, I have already waited for a whole day. You have sent your maintenance guy over in the afternoon. He has already service the air-con and it is still noisy.
Front desk: We cannot give you another room. We are fully occupied.
Me : Sir, if you honestly can tell me you can sleep with this noise, then I'll accept it. (playing the clip above captured in my handphone).

The front desk guy didn't look me in the eye and pretend to touch the monitor to keep himself busy.
Me :I can't sleep with this noise. If you are not going to do anything, please refund the money for my room and I'll immediately check-out now. Obviously, you do not want me to stay in your inn since I can't sleep with this noise. Please call your manager out, now.
Front desk:I'm sorry my manager is not in. Can you wait till in the morning to see him?
Me :Can't you call him over now? Sure, you want me to wait till morning? I will sit right here and look at you till he comes, since I can't sleep in that room.

The front desk guy proceeded to make some calls to his staff to check on another room.
(At this moment, I was already fuming. I really hate to resort to this.)
His staff called back to tell him the other room's air-con is not noisy and can be occupied.

Front desk: All right, we have another room here but it's twin beds. Will that be acceptable?
Me : Yes, anything as long as it's not noisy and I can sleep.
Front desk: We have a room here which we promised to another guest. But since they haven't checked in we will give it to you first.
(Do you believe this? He has another room but didn't want to give it and came up with some other excuses)
Front desk: Is your luggage still in the room?
(D'oh? Or not in my car? Or outside the room?)
Me : Yes. (I tried my best not to roll my eyes or say something sarcastic)
Front desk: All right, my staff is waiting at your room to bring you to the other room. You can move your luggage out as we need to lock that room.
(Unnecessary explanation).
Front desk: Here is your key.
Me : Thank you. (I always remember my manners, mind you.)

Therefore, we had to moved our luggage at night to the other room. The air-con was much quieter and I slept through the night like a baby. If only, they gave us this room earlier when my roomie made a complaint, I wouldn't have to go through this. Sigh.

What would you have done? Paid hard-earned money to have a loud engine roaring from you air-con while you try to sleep? If they really want me to do that, they have to knocked me unconscious or drug a complimentary drink first....
Hmm.. maybe I should open an inn there to and do that? :P

Disney vs Warner

Disney or Warner animation?

It's an obvious answer. Definitely, I'll choose Disney animations over Warner any time of the day. Why?

Don't tell me you have never watched any Disney animation?

From the lovely hand-drawn characters of Snow White or the Lady and the Tramp to the computer-animated character of Tarzan, I have grown-up watching these dear characters as Disney's style evolve with the change of times.(Am still watching, so not fully grown-up? Hmmm) Although, honestly, I still prefer the hand-drawn animations. Something very personal and elegant about them.

Characters like: Dumbo with his big floppy ears and sad eyes, the innocent,hopeful, wishful-looking Belle or even the naughty-street-rat Aladdin. All these characters have been part of my life. If I were to list every single Disney animation and the reasons why I love them, I have to write a book. Ha!
I remember being a kid and wanting to work in Disney one day. Just drawing cartoons. I remember doodling with a friend to a few books of "cartoon" to the extend one of our primary school friend offered to buy a volume. We sold it at RM5. Ha!
I have to admit, there are a few other companies who are coming up with memorable animations. Another must-see-animations are those by Pixar Animation Studios. Their strategy of creating lovable characters who can charm even an old-jaded adult to love the show. (Do take note that Disney have bought over Pixar in 2006)

Anyway, take a look at cute little "Boo" squealing and fooling around with big giant monster, Sully in Monster's Inc.
What about Nemo, the clownfish who got the whole world suddenly calling all clownfish they see Nemo? This is very evident when you visit the Aquarium.

The next is Dreamworks Animation Studio. Their latest animation, The Kungfu Panda has even the parents who brought their kids to the movie, roaring in laughter. Seriously, you HAVE to watch it. I'm not kidding. Besides the stellar cast for the voices, the storyline and funny scenes will definitely tickle your funny bone.
Some others are so-so, but another notable DreamWorks animation is Shrek. Who cannot forget the green ogre who won the beautiful princess, Fiona, who happens to be an ogre too? Talk about soulmate..
Ahhhh... however, if you're really a fan of Disney like my bf is, he even noticed actresses who do the voices of Belle, Little Mermaid, etc. in the movie Enchanted. I never knew that or bothered to. The songs are lovely and the story is hilariously romantic.
Whatever happens, whenever you're sad and down, remember: watch a Disney or Pixar movie and you're back to your little happy-go-luck child again! :)

Fail-X (direct translation to Bahasa Melayu)

Remember watching Agent Mulder and Agent Scully?
Well, they're back in a movie called X-Files: I Want to Believe.

I truly wanted to believe it was worth seeing. I won free tickets to watch it tonight. Therefore, off to the cinema, I went! Unfortunately, Midvalley proves itself to be a horror of horrors.
It took me 40 minutes to enter the carpark; rounding unnecessarily around Midvalley in a stop-and-go traffic because they closed some roads especially the entrances to certain car parks and divert you around a maze. As usual, even on weekdays they want to put me off from going to Midvalley. On weekends, it can take me almost an hour to find a parking lot! I literally loathe going near Midvalley these days.

Anyway, the movie was like its series - just a longer version. Mulder and Scully are together... Hmm.. I'd better not reveal too much since someone is going to watch it next week. Just take notice on the images they flash on the screen to catch the plot.

In the meantime, a catch phrase: I want to believe.
Yes, I really want to believe shopping malls shouldn't be allowed to profit so much when they are badly design in terms of parking and road circulation! :p

The Big 3-O

My dearest friend, it's not a big deal. Yes, indeed I am a few months younger than you. :p But we still have a few more years before that "big 3-O", as you put it.

What's the big deal with aging?
What's the sadness about celebrating your birthday?
Shouldn't it be some sort of a goal? Whereby you thank God you have lived another year and fruitfully, I hope.

We shouldn't be so wrapped up with the numbers or the candles on the cake. We should appreciate every second we are living here before we move on. We should be running around the streets in our birthday suits and jumping around like a mad man... NOT! :P (unless you're Blink 182).

Well, whatever way we decide to use to show our happiness or jubilation, we must always remember to take time to reflect how a year has gone by. If not, when we blink our eyes, we will be in shock to notice a few decades have passed by just like that.

Somehow, birthdays are no longer seen as a happy celebration. It was such a joyful event for a newborn child or children. But as we age, somehow it just marks another event in the calendar with some birthdays wishes.

Why so boring?? Take the day off from work, treat yourself to some pampering or an extravagant buy on something you always wanted. Give yourself a big hug and enjoy the day! :)

Perhaps, it would be more meaningful to have family and close friends to celebrate with? Sometimes, it doesn't happen when busy lifestyles put aside such events. Whatever it is, I still feel there is a need to celebrate birthdays.

The minimum is a small slice of cake and any crappy gift will do. It's the symbolic act. The symbolic event to show you've reached another chapter of your life. Like making a toast to yourself and patting on your back! Even a panda celebrates its birthday, let alone us?!?
After all, how often can you say that "I am 9861.75 days old!"(365.25 days multiply by the years)
How long can you say you look the way you look now in a few years' time?
How many more years can you fit in the pants you are wearing now?
How often can you say you're in Malaysia? The next year, you could be flying over, say to Ireland?

Therefore, my friend, I just want to wish you, "HAPPPPPPYYY BIRTHDDAYYYY!!!"

This entry is dedicated to you from your friend all the way here in Malaysia.
Wish I could be there to party on with you (though perhaps I am not in the top ten list of people who you wish were there.. ahaha.)

Here is the cake and present for you! :P
Crappy it may be but merry it shall be because I'll be bugging you from time to time with a ring or two!! :P (Does it rhyme or sounds weird? Oh well..)

(Noticed the 2-in-1 scenario with a present-shaped cake?)

All right, here's a better cake we all will enjoy. ;)
And an e-"gift certificate" exclusively for you. (Valid exclusively at certain exclusive outlets only)

:)

Batman

The latest Batman movie is called the Dark Knight.

When I saw the teasers and advertisement, I noticed it was rather creepy especially the make-up of the Joker (Heath Ledger). I always remember the big grinning face of Jack Nicholson in the Batman movie (1989) which was directed by Tim Burton.
I thought to myself, "How can this creepy looking Joker be more interesting than Jack Nicholson's?"

Well, for starters, Ledger's portrayal of the Joker really amazed me. I still have his young, handsome-clean image and voice from his character in movie Casanova superimposed in my mind. Therefore, when he started speaking as the Joker, I was thinking like, "He doesn't sound like this. Oohhh that's interesting."
After a while, his scary makeup with the gory story of why he is called the Joker didn't seemed to matter. I was intrigued by how he manipulated and twisted the storyline.

Basically, this movie was set in a darker tone. In fact, Batman is seen as the criminal in this dark city. The setting feels a little morbid and sad. However, this is the tone that set it aparts from the other Batman movies.

I have to admit. I think the Joker stole the show. I was more intrigued in seeing the Joker and of course, the part where the heavily-armoured batmobile spun out into a batpod before it destroyed itself. Or was it later on during? Watch it for yourself!
Perhaps, the death of the actor, Heath Ledger might have something to do with this shift of attention to the Joker but his acting proves that he earns this attention.

Whatever it is, it has been a long time since I started enjoying movies again. Well, done! In my humble opinion, it's a definite much-watch movie and not any keluang-man show. ;)

And I end with the catch-phrase, "Why so serious... go watch the movie!!"