TGIF! Here's today's scoop to end your week with:
- Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says a special unit has been set up to monitor Internet postings that can ignite racial tension and cause disunity. [The Star]
- PM Najib Razak wants you to trust the mainstream media as it's "its facts cannot be questioned". Alternative media, on the other hand, publishes reports based on opinions which are “half truths and not accurate”. [The Malaysian Insider]
- 16-year-old Nabil Jeffri made motor sport history yesterday by becoming the youngest person to drive a Formula One car in an official test. [Times of India]
- Former member of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) Malaysia Shamsuddin Sulaiman has been released after spending eight years under ISA. [Bernama]
- A tourist bus from Genting Highland skidded and turned turtle during heavy downpour at KM35.1 of the Karak Highway, leaving 18 injured. [AsiaOne]
- US soldiers are now allowed to get high on ecstasy, all in the name of finding a way to cope with post traumatic stress disorder. Two researchers will test their theory in therapy sessions. [Wired]
- Catherine Zeta Jones has lashed out at doctors for failing to spot husband Michael Douglas's throat cancer sooner. [BBC News]
- Several on-going experiments have shown that McDonald's food stubbornly refuse to rot. While many think its the chemicals and preservatives that are keeping McDonald's food immortal, fat is actually the real culprit. [Newser]
(Photo from Getty Images) Read more
Recentl
y, we spotted something funky going on at Instant Cafe Theatre's CHAI House: Malaysia's Greatest Hits, a YouTube video festival held over two Saturday afternoon at the beginning of this month. We talk to Mark Teh, the multidisciplinary macha behind it, about what he's doing, why he's getting all his cronies to do it, and Guinness ads in Bahasa Malaysia! Read more
Hello, dear readers. It's a nice Monday afternoon, isn't it? Well, let's get into it:
- How did the state react to the anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) candlelight vigils yesterday? With riot shields, police violence, and arrests. We've had 50 years of the draconian law, and the Malaysian government has once again proven why we need to dismantle it. [Malaysiakini]
- Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says he regrets his ministry's ban on the use of "Allah" by Christians. That's nice. But will he do anything about it? [The Malaysian Insider]
- Meanwhile, in Bad Typo Land: Muslin, the most misunderstood fabric in the world. [Reddit]
- Malaysia doesn't have effective sex education. What's that costing us? [The Nut Graph]
- The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are banning some Blackberry functions, because they are unable to police and monitor these communications. [BBC News]
- Opportunism-filter: Chelsea Clinton's massively OTT wedding also served as a ad for the Astor Courts estate where the event took place. The house's owner has been desperate to sell it for some time now. [New York Post]
- The best English-language magazine articles of ALL TIME! [CoolTools]
- There goes our work day: the 15 most addictive websites EVER. [Urlesque]
- Hajime Robot Restaurant: a shabu and barbeque joint in Bangkok with robot waiters. [CNN Go]
- So-cute-filter: meet the zedonk, a zebra-donkey hybrid! [Newser]
- Rather-brilliant-filter: My Darklyng, a serialised young adult novel about vampires for people who love/hate young adult novels about vampires. [Slate]
- A South African rancher is poisoning the horns of rhinos on his property to deter poachers. The poison doesn't harm the animals themselves, but will "kill, or make seriously ill anyone who consumes the horn". [Sky News]
(Photo from CNN Go) Read more
Ah, once again it is time for Word Up, our regular online op
portunity for witty (more or less) wordplay! We have radio book critic, freelance writer, and compulsive Twitterer Umapagan Ampikaipakan to assist us in defining:
shweet
1. noun; a Twitter update written whilst one is defecating. Usage example: "The solitude and solace of the water closet is the source of many a deeply contemplative shweet."
2. verb; to Twitter when on the shitter. Usage example: "Please don't use my iPhone to shweet, okay."
(Photo from Wikipedia) Read more
Oh dear: it's Wednesday already. The days go by fast, don't they?
- Fuuyoh: like an action movie! Check out this fast-paced video of special ops agents ambushing the Kelantan sultan's motorcade! [Free Malaysia Today]
- PM Najib Razak has an iPhone! Obviously it's working wonders for him. "I have a walking dictionary with me at all times." [New Straits Times]
- Dr M: I'm glad I didn't censor the Internet! Our former Great Leader is thankful that the web in Malaysia remains relatively free. "I have benefited much from the blogs as have very many bloggers." We're thankful, too! [Malaysiakini]
- The Malay Chamber of Commerce (DPMM) wants 30% of government open tenders to be "guaranteed" for Bumiputera businessmen. Er, can you call that "open tender", then? [The Malaysian Insider]
- Indonesian Muslims have been praying in the wrong direction! The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) sportingly admitted to their astronomical error, saying: "God understands that humans make mistakes." [Guardian]
- A Filipino maid has inherited S$6 million from her Singaporean employer! Awesome to see domestic help being appreciated. [Straits Times]
- Troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan will only be in prison for two weeks -- if she behaves. [People]
- Actor/funnyman Danny DeVito catalogues his travels by taking photos of far-flung locations, with his bare "troll foot" in the frame. [CNN]
- Not sure what to think of this: the "vampire facelift". Inject blood into your face! [Salon]
- Is fast fashion chain Forever 21 glamourising teen pregnancy with their new maternity line? [Newser]
- Check out these photos of geeky nail art! Featuring Sonic, Mario, and Mortal Kombat! [Craftster]
(Photo from Guardian) Read more
Hi guys! Just one more day before the long weekend, so let's keep today nice and easy:
- Malaysia's very own Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh will be a referee at World Cup! The 44-year-old teacher will be the first ever Malaysian to referee at the tournament. [The Star]
- 26 Temuan families in Dengkil were awarded RM6.5 million, 15 years after they were forced off their ancestral land to to build a highway to KLIA. [Bernama]
- American Idol results: A winner has been named! If you'd like to wait till you see the show tonight, then avert your eyes! [MTV.com]
- Malaysia's broadband speed ranked 102nd out of 152 countries. It's 18 times slower than the top-ranked countries like Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. [The Malaysian Insider]
- MIC deputy president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has named his deputy Datuk G. Palanivel as his successor when he steps down in September 2011. [The Star]
- Ellen DeGeneres has announced the launch of her own record label, and her first artist may give Justin Bieber a run for his money. [LA Times]
- Art Linkletter, known on TV for his funny interviews with children and ordinary folks during the 1950s and '60s, died today at age 97. [The New York Times]
(Photo from Google.com) Read more
Caught you there, didn't we? Well, it might not be what you really, really want, but it's the next best thing! O
ur local beauty queen turned financial adviser turned popstar-in-waiting Hannah Tan aims to get closer with her "online family" via bi-monthly Skype sessions, direct from her one-room apartment (her bedroom lah) in Japan. Junk writer Scott Ng explains his crush's latest scheme. Read more
If you haven't seen the surprise hip-hop sensation
"I Am A Macha" yet, do yourself a favour and WATCH IT NOW! Right. With that out of the way, we speak to Ezra Zaid, publisher/talkshow host/rap artist/macha about Malaysian politics, Will Farrell, and his laugh-a-half-minute show That Effing Show. Read more
Your companions are looking at their laps instead of enjoying your company. In their laps are smart-phones. You know what to blame: Twitter. As social media wrecks/enhances our social lives, one thing's for certain: its potential to entertain us is limitless. Here are the best Malaysian hashtags of all time.
(Photo from theTparty) Read more
If you are a Facebook addict, and enjoying scouring through scores of the network's groups, chances are you've come across "We support the right for all Malaysians to refer to each other as 'macha' ". The group currently has 9,000 members.
We got in touch with founder The Lord Panda - of the satire shock band The Panda Head Curry? - to find out the reasons behind this macha business.
Read more
Over the weekend, our dear Information Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim proclaimed that Twitter, Facebook and L-band were not entirely suitable for Malaysians, "especially Muslims". The Internet is a form of business from the West, and "Malaysians are just users ... We accept all this in a state of cultural shock."
Ever-willing to heed Rais's advice, KLue got to thinkin': if the Internet is bukan budaya kita because it hails from the West, what other things common in modern Malaysia should we discard, because they originate from a westerly direction?
(Photo from Wikipedia) Read more
Only 5 days left to the Youreka! Finale Party! A few important updates: 1) The venue has been moved to KL Live Centre at Life Centre, along Jalan Sultan Ismail. Formerly known as Ruums, it's fast becoming the hottest venue for events (Basement Jaxx has a show there, so does The Bloody Beetroots). And 2) as of today, pop-punk princes Bunkface has joined the line-up. Read more
OK so you've noticed the colour purple on our website and November issue by now. What's that all about, you wonder. Well it's all about you this month, and Yahoo!. Together, you've got Youreka!, your getaway to discoveries, prizes and a cool party to cap it all off. UPDATE: The Youreka! Finale Party venue is now at KL Live Centre. Read more
Well well well. Look what the Internet has brought us today: Project 500! The organization or the people behind the website is a mystery (all we know that it's probably by a Singaporean company, Vocanic Pte Ltd) and we don't exactly know the purpose behind it ... but we do know the aim: to uncover Malaysia's top 500 social mediaphiles. Read more
Hello, hump day! What wil you have in store for us today? (Nothing too shocking, please.)
- There're bound to be some, unfortunately. This morning, the Perak state assembly opened its last sitting of the year. Yesterday, (dodgily appointed) Speaker Datuk R Ganesan announced a slew of security measures and regulations: wires and cameras, listening posts, no cellphones in the Dewan. What signal is the government sending -- if Perak's house of reps itself is a police state? [Malaysian Insider]
- Shockers from last night: first, it was reported that PKR secretary general Salehuddin Hashim was resigning. Calls to the guy himself confirmed that it was untrue. Then word was that PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan had quit. Ugh, so confusing! [Malaysiakini]
- A real Halloween scare: Warner Bros legal people warn a restaurant proprietor that she can't host a Harry Potter-themed party. "Warner does not, of course, object to you holding a generic wizard / Halloween night." Wow, since when did you need permission from a media conglomerate to celebrate a festival? [guardian.co.uk]
- More corporate signs-of-the-times: fastfood giant McDonald's gives up on Iceland, citing "unique operational complexity" of running outlets in the 300,000-person island nation, and the falling krona. McDonald's has been proverbial for never pulling out or closing shops, ever! Apahal? [BBC News]
- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) meets this week in Seoul. The agenda? Whether domain names can be opened up to accommodate non-Latin script -- Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Cyrillic, etc. The Internet is getting a whole lot more democratic. [guardian.co.uk]
- Some splendorous (and really disturbing) photographs of pollution in China. Stunned silence. [China Hush]
(Photos from China Hush) Read more
Yahoo!'s got a pretty sweet treat for all you Internet junkies out there. Just by sitting pretty at your desk and clicking away at your mouse, you get to win awesome stuff like adidas accessories, tickets to blockbuster movie screenings, BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphones and loads more cool stuff. All you have to do is discover and then... Youreka! Read more
Hello hump day! One item of big news, with several smaller ones:
- Finally, a development on the Teoh Beng Hock case: famed Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand suggests that the political aide could have been strangled before "falling". 80% chance it was homicide. Chance of justice being served: unclear. [Malaysiakini]
- Oh, official deniability! Information MInister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, responding to Australian firms' concern over our slow broadband speeds, decries it as an attempt to besmirch Malaysia's good name. As if our daily struggle with connectivity is not evidence enough. [Bernama]
- From the lands of steadier connections, news: clauses in Disney and DreamWorks contracts now forbid their talent from candid Facebooking or Tweeting. [guardian.co.uk]
- Continuing on about the Internet: an interesting look on how web news giant Huffington Post chooses its headlines. They field several at a time, and the headline that gets more clicks stays on. [Nieman Journalism Lab]
- Lots of people are hooked on Facebook's Farmville. The Chinese social networking analogue, Kaixin, also has a farming app; now, veteran's of this "happy farm" are renting plots of land, and farming, for real. [Shanghaiist]
- Finally, very powerful photographs of dead albatross chicks, more decomposed than their stomach-fulls of plastic detritus. [chrisjordan.com]
(Photo from Malaysiakini) Read more
- PM says efforts to deal with illegal and immoral activities on the Internet will not lead to censorship. [The Star]
- A parade of 900 zombies, aliens and Star Wars Stormtroopers that performed MJ's Thriller last weekend may have set a new Guinness World Record. [Straits Times]
- Google and Hasbro teams up to produce Monopoly City Street. Using Google Maps, you can buy any street in the world. World domination! [Mashable]
- The oldest film festival in the world honours Pixar directors with its lifetime achievement award. [BBC News]
- The Joker is the world's best-loved villain, beating X-Men's Magneto, Spiderman's the Green Goblin, Star Wars' Jabba the Hutt and Superman's Lex Luther. [Contactmusic.com]
- 100 things that annoy the Brits (people who chew food with their mouth open, coughing without covering the mouth, slow internet connection and more! [Telegraph]
- 10 weirdest ice cream flavors in existence. [SFWeekly.com]
Read more
Check out what's keeping us talking over the water-cooler.
- Muslims can't go for Black Eye Peas's Arthur's Day concert next month? [Straits Times]
- Apple's Five Worst Products, Ever - sorry to burst your perfect, sleek bubble Apple fangirls and Mac daddies. But WHY is iTunes on that list?! [Wired]
- Remember last week when 'pendet dance' was trending on Twitter and for some reason, Malaysia was accused of stealing from the Balinese? We found the reason why. Watch for the bid where they imply KRU is Malaysia's culture and tourism ministry. [Antara News]
- Trust Google. Nessie the Loch Ness monster apparently spotted on Google Maps. [Telegraph]
Read more
You've hit the hour where productivity starts to dip - time to read our Daily Digest then, woohoo!
- Asia is the new market for a chain of restaurants from Jamie Oliver. Hong Kong will be first, and Singapore is bookmarked. No plans for Malaysia currently :(. [Straits Times]
- "Please leave your values at the front desk." Why does Shanghai want to get rid of Chinglish when it's comedic gold? [BBC] [BBC: More Chinglish Signs]
- The ultimate TV rooms - literally. 14 designers transform 2 NYC penthouses inspired by series Dexter, Weeds, The Tudors and more. [If It's Hip, It's Here]
- Poor Jessica Biel. It's bad enough her career's going no where, now her name is no good too. Read why you shouldn't Google her. [Mashable]
- 50 Funny People You Should Follow on Twitter. Tweet examples:"#failedsexualpositions A BJ Novak." [Huffington Post]
Picture from If It's Hip, It's Here. Read more
