a fleeting stay ...

Guest blogger Jehan Mohd writes about what she thinks about the promotional stunts for the late King of Pop's DVD release of the concert that never was.   Screenshot from Dancing Inmates - Michael Jackson's This Is It GETTING a bunch of convicts serving time at a maximum security facility to promote the launch of your latest DVD may not seem to be the brightest of ideas…unless you’re a recently deceased-cum-former-King-of-Pop and the prisoners are those at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, a maximum security prison in the Philippines. The inmates who made waves globally in 2007 when a video of them dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller hit YouTube aren’t exactly unknown (collectively, anyway) – videos of them dancing to other songs have received tens of millions of hits in total. Nevertheless being visited by longtime MJ choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid who taught the inmates the moves to a sequence from MJ’s This Is...

A vid Facebook junkie Jehan Mohd is slightly aghast and somewhat intrigued by the notion of being able to “off” yourself virtually. She guest-blogs about this new phenomenon here: Picture by Aref Omar TIRED of countless requests to be friends with strangers or to tend to friends’ neglected farms and pets? Wish that you could spend more quality time with your friends (as you feel online interaction doesn’t count as actual interaction)? Just plain tired of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn? Say hello to the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine , which touts its services with a simple slogan: “Meet your real neighbours again! Sign out forever!”. The brainchild of Walter Langelaar, Gordan Savicic, and Danya Vasiliev, the programme has helped more than 1,000 people commit virtual suicide, severing more than 85,000 friendships on Facebook and removing over 300,000 tweets from Twitter. The programme provides users an easy way out (no pun intended) from their online personas. With...

Guest blogger Jehan Mohd speaks to Perdana Global Peace Organisation manager Ram Karthigasu about the adventures he had on the Viva Palestina convoy, which recently successfully delivered humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the besieged territory of Gaza. International peace activists shout as they stand atop a truck carrying medical supplies in Gaza City January 7, 2010. Egypt has reached a deal with members of an aid convoy to take supplies to Palestinians in Gaza after protests overnight, but Cairo barred their private cars from crossing, an Egyptian security source said. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem They hang out in cyber-cafes to play popular video game Counter-Strike, are in touch with the latest news through the Internet and complete their attire with mobile phones. If not for the seemingly requisite AK-47 slung over their shoulder, these young Gazan boys may have passed off for normal teenagers in any other country. “Everybody carries a gun – all smuggled in – in Gaza — it’...

Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) members Juana Jaafar and Ram Karthigasu were given a hero's welcome on their return home. They landed at Kuala Lumpur International Ariport slightly after 2pm today looking tired but happy to be home. The pair were given an enthusiastic welcome as they walked out of baggage clearance towards the waiting area at the airport. For the parents of Juana and Ram the wait is over: their children are safe and that is all that matters. Relief is written all over Azizah Dahlan's face -- Juana's mum. Vanaja Ramachandran says the family can rest easy: Ram is home.   Juana, 28, and Ram, 29, were part of the I nternational Humanitarian Aid convoy under Viva Palestina, a British-registered charity, to Gaza. The convoy departed London December 6, 2009 and arrived in Gaza January 6, 2010. What an accomplishment for these young Malaysian heroes! There will be stories to tell and books to write. All that can wait. They ca...

Cut down on our sugar intake. That is my response to the sugar price hike in Malaysia. The Malaysian Government raised the price of sugar by 20 sen (US6 cent) per kilogramme beginning January 1, this year. Endocrinologist and Monash Malaysia academic Professor Dato' Dr Khalid Kadir warns that one in five adults in this country will develop diabetes this year. Eating less sugar reduces the risk of obesity which is said to be a major factor behind the increase. Giving up sugar in your diet won't be easy. Still, there are useful tips on how to do so. TIPS CUT DOWN SLOWLY . Forget going cold turkey. Therein lies failure. Instead, if you normally have two candy bars a day, cut to one a day. Then next week, one every other day. The following week, one every three days, until you're down to just one a week. If you normally take two 2 of sugar in your coffee, use the same routine, cutting down to 1 1/2 teaspoons for a week, then 1, then 1/2. Eventually, g...

People are always waiting for something. They could be waiting for the train, an opportunity, promises to be fulfilled or the return of a loved one. But "what does waiting mean in our lives and what is life without waiting?" That question was posed by Danny Castillones Sillada in his article "What is Life without Waiting?" (The Metaphysics of Waiting). The passing of the old year demands another round of gloomy introspection and Sillada's article came at the right time, given the value of waiting in our lives. "Waiting," he explains, is "an emotional and mental state, which is preconditioned to anticipate someone or something to arrive at a particular time and place". Sillada tells us that there are two types of waiting: empirical and metaphysical. The empirical form of waiting is "where the certainty of the waited and the occurrence of event are tangibly expected to happen within a particular time and place of the waite...

Cake lovers all over the world surely must have heard of Nagasaki Castella ( picture ). It is a Japanese sponge cake (made of egg yolks, brown sugar crystals, refined white sugar, thick rice syrup and flour) and is said to be popular in Japan and other parts of the world. I first tasted the cake in December 2007 after attending the Second Asian City Journalist Conference (ACJC) which was held in Fukuoka City, Japan. (The conference was jointly organised by UN Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Fukuoka) and The Nishinippon Newspaper). I had plenty of time before my flight home. So I browsed the shelves of one of the duty-free shops at Fukuoka International Airport for something interesting to buy and I chanced upon individually wrapped long boxes which looked very attractive from where I was standing. The boxes contained the Nagasaki Castella. I love cakes and I couldn't resist the temptation that was staring ...

Christmas in many parts of the world is both a secular and sacred holiday. Many countries bring their own cultures and traditions to the Christmas season. It is as much a celebration of spirituality as it is of goodwill. Those who observe Christmas go to church, sing carols, exchange gifts and attend parties as well as family gatherings.   Christmas in Malaysia is celebrated in typical Malaysian fashion where people of multi-ethnic and multi-religious backgrounds thronged the homes of their Christian friends to soak in the festive spirit. This is consistent with the concept of "rumah terbuka" or "open house" which makes the celebration of major festivals in Malaysia more meaningful. Food is the main component of any festival. Visitors to a Malaysian open house on Christmas Day may find traditional Western offerings of the season -- roast turkey, mince pies and fruit cakes -- sitting comfortably with local delicacies such as devil's curry, be...

The Asian City Journalist Conference (ACJC) is on Facebook. It is called UN HABITAT’s Asian City Journalists’ Conference Group. It is a platform for environmentally conscious journalists and associates in Asia to hook up and communicate with like-minded individuals. Japanese architect and urban planner Shunya Susuki first proposed the idea over dinner at a traditional Japanese pub in Fukuoka City, Japan on December 13, 2009. Present at the dinner were journalists from Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The conversation over dinner mainly centred on establishing a space for journalists and associates connected with ACJC to create an online presence and to act as an alumni association. That was when Susuki – who participated in ACJC as coordinating officer for UN Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (Fukuoka) prior to his transfer to Fukuoka City Hall in April this year – came up with the Facebook plan. Everyone present...

Watch South Korean actor Lee Byeong-Heon ( picture ) in Iris an action-packed Korean drama series, now showing on KBS World (Astro Channel 303 on Wednesday and Thursday at 9pm). As bitter National Security System (NSS) secret agent Kim Hyeon-joon, Lee keeps me on the edge of my seat leaving me asking for more when each episode ends. His romance with NSS profiler Choi Seung-hee (played by South Korean actress Kim Tae-hee ) is sweet and touching which seems strange considering his tough demeanour. Not really. The "I am ready to kill anyone who opposes me" secret agent is actually a very soft and romantic man. He is the guy every woman wants to have!!! Big, strong and loving!!! Iris reminds me so much of BBC's Spooks , a "tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation". I am annoyed that Astro has removed BBC Entertainment from the Metro Package. I...

Those who danced to the hits of Boney M in the mid-70s and mid-80s are now a lot older, visibly rounder and arguably wiser. All that didn't matter when they gathered at Sunway Lagoon Hotel on Saturday night to see the pop and disco group, which was originally based in West Germany, performed for charity at a show organised by Lejadi Group. The moment Liz Mitchell came on stage and showed off her vocals with Amazing Grace, fans poised themselves for a rush that would last for several days. The audience was easily persuaded. Before they knew it, fans of Boney M were clapping their hands and getting off their seats to gyrate to Sunny, Ma Baker, Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday!, Daddy Cool (the group's first number 1 hit), Rasputin, Rivers of Babylon, No Woman No Cry and Bahama Mama, among others. "We want you to get really happy ... we want to encourage you to dance so that your blood gets hot," coaxed Mitchell, the group's original lead si...

The drizzle early this morning did not deter participants of the National Press Club Media Run 2009 from taking part in the event. Everyone wanted to complete the 5km stretch and return to the Press Club at Jalan Tangsi, Kuala Lumpur for the prize-giving ceremony which began around 10am. The prizes were great; cash prizes and hampers for the top five in the different categories and more hampers and electrical items for the lucky draw segment. This picture shows the Mohamed women -- Jehan, Nisa and Adibah -- adjusting the tags on their T-Shirts for the run. Luck was on the side of these vibrant women. Although they didn't grab the top awards, they took home hampers from Giant and Milo. Seasoned runner Adibah, who received two hampers, donated one to a very young boy. The five-year-old youngster took part in the run with his father, who is an exco member of the National Press Club. He looked so sad because he didn't get anything and that moved Adibah to gi...

  Malaysia has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It's official .  There will be no snow in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.  There's not a vestige of truth in the  rumour that has been widely repeated on the internet -- that a snow blizzard would hit Kuala Lumpur at 7pm tomorrow . Meteorological Department director-general Dr Yap Kok Seng said that it was impossible for snow blizzards to occur in tropical countries.  Still, we should be prepared for bad weather until November 24 as predicted by the Meteorological Department. Imagine snow falling all over Kuala Lumpur. Of course it's not true, what an absurd idea! That's what you think. Judging by the phone calls and emails which the Meteorological Department has had to handle over the past few weeks, many Malaysians seemed to have lost their capacity to distinguish between reality and fantasy. I must admit that for several hours I was haunted by the possibility of snow-capped hi...

"I don't trust him," JP said, in a rare moment of candour. I was completely taken aback by JP's revelation that her partner had been cheating on her. They have been together for nearly 19 years and that was the first time she had uttered those words. JP's declaration got me thinking about the concept of trust: the belief that somebody is sincere and honest and will not try to harm or trick you. A recent episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show disclosed that one in three men cheat on their spouses and 93 per cent of men hide their sexual affairs from their wives. If trust is a rare and precious commodity in today's world, is there hope for relationships to thrive? I don't have any answers. Apparently family counsellor, rabbi and best-selling author Gary Neuman does. He carried out a two-year study of 100 unfaithful men and 100 faithful men and the findings were documented in his book entitled The Truth About Cheating: Why Men Stray and What You Can Do To P...

This picture of the suspension bridge across the Kampar River at the Kuala Dipang Curriculum centre, Kampar, Perak was taken on October 12, 2009 at 11.42 am. Who could have predicted that the bridge would collapse 15 days later as the picture below shows? On Monday night (October 26, 2009) the bridge, which was opened a month ago, gave way. The 22 pupils on the overpass were plunged into the river. Nineteen were rescued from the river while three girls drowned. They were among nearly 300 pupils attending a 1Malaysia unity camp. Another tragedy, another round of gloomy introspection. Will we ever learn from our past disasters? The usual calls for investigation have kept the newspapers busy. What's the use of making noises about safety and security? You and I know that we don't take these things seriously. I am reminded of an observation made by the late Syed Hussein Alatas: "Malaysia has no awareness of standards." This latest catastrophe ...

Popular businessman Dato' Gary Thanasan held a social gathering in celebration of Diwali at his residence in Petaling Jaya yesterday. The above picture shows Gary, who is holding his daughter, with Prestige magazine editor Saleha Ali and journalists Yani (Bernama), Suraya (Life & Times editor) and Meena (Life & Times). Miss Malaysia (Universe) 1990 and Mrs Malaysia (World) 2004 Dato' Anna Lim came with her husband Dato' Jeffrey Lim and their two children. The friendly pair sportingly posed for a picture. Yani baked Gary, a former radio and TV show host, a classic dessert -- buttery rich Pineapple Upside Down Cake -- which brought back many childhood memories. She is pictured here with Meena, who came to the party in her usual Bollywood style. It was really a nice evening! Thank you Gary!

zenhabits (simple productivity) is one of the Top 100 blogs in the world. It also happens to be one of my favourite blogs. Its entries or posts seek to find "simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives". The message is to "focus on what's important, create something amazing, find happiness". It is the perfect pick-me-up when you feel down. Check it out here.

This image of the Kuala Lumpur Tower (foreground) and the Petronas Twin Towers (background) was taken by journalist Jehan Mohd from Maybank Tower in Kuala Lumpur City last month. Isn't it interesting how everything looks different at night? Take this view of the city, for example. What happened to the grime, congestion and pollution? Night-time covers a multitude of sins. It hides the real situation or facts when these are not good or pleasant. As one unknown source puts it, "night is the blotting paper for many sorrows". From the Talmud comes this warning: "Never greet a stranger in the night, for he may be a demon." While Somerset Maugham notes that "in the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of lights, it is unnatural, hostile and menacing. "It is like a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time." If the black of the night sky inspires fear as we are likely to feel when power failures black...

Japanese creativity teacher Shunya Susuki is a man of unusually great artistic ability. His wide-ranging creations which include solar electric cars, kites of unusual designs, sculpture of women and computer graphics animation reveal a highly-inventive mind. His recently completed Jang Geum Robot ( see picture ) is remarkable for its resemblance to Korean actress Lee Young Ae, who played historical figure Dae Jang Geum in the popular 2003 television series produced by South Korean television channel Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. The robot will bow with a smile when it meets a person. Susuki's creative endeavours display a commitment of time, energy and resources which is very encouraging to those who wish to hone their artistic skills. Some would call him a creative genius and I think that description is apt. Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary ( Seventh Edition) defines a genius as a person of unusually great intelligence, skill or artistic ability....

My dear nephew, It has been a week since you were taken away from us. We miss you. Yes, death is inevitable, we accept that. Still, the grief lingers on. Time is a great healer, they say. But we will never forget you. We are glad that you had a full life. And we will remember that when we think of you. Al Fatihah