Big Bad Wolf Sale... a miss!

Yes, tis unfortunate that somehow I managed to blew all my weekends these past two, three weeks on matters that did not involved going to the Big Bad Wolf Sale.

Having learnt my lesson from last year's turnout, I decided to let go of the earlier weekends with hopes that the crowd will thin out by the third weekend or so. But then things like unexpected family gatherings (fyi the folks on my hubbs' side loves impromptu kenduri (feast), cooking is their thing and cooking with speed combined with unreasonable reasons to gather is in fact, more appreciated in the family) and unexpected overseas excursions came in between.

So I will miss this year's Big Bad Wolf.

T T

OK, I was trying to do the crying face using the two capital T, but obviously using Times Roman as font don't work as well as it does say in Arial or Trebuchet.

But you get my drift.

Sigh. Anyway I'm still trying to finish up on The Last Continent, and at least my sister already grabbed Nation and Unseen Academicals, as well as The Wicked Series. Apparently the latter series is for young adults, but hey, I'm young at heart. Plus they're only RM8 (less than US$3) each!

I have to say being held at The Mines also didn't help, as far as I'm concerned. The Mines is such a shopping complex in which I personally don't like going. It's so barren (not that they don't have shops, but the place don't have shops in which I feel like shopping in). But I suppose it is much better than last year where food is scarce.

Ah well to those who managed to join in the frenzy, hope you guys had fun. Those who had not been, give it a try! Guys who don't really like to read, you should go too if you want to impress a girl. Simply head to the graphic novels section and you'll be blown away too.

There's still time to catch the sale, so go!!!

The Wee Free Men

I just finished reading this title, it's one of Pratchett's that I've been meaning to read. It's not as funny as Maskerade or Carpe Jugulum, but I love Tiffany Aching's character. Brown eyes, brown hair and sharp as hell.

It's amazing how Pratchett can paint Tiffany as if he is a kid himself, but at the same time able to tell readers that she's not just a girl but a very clever one. I think Second Thoughts and Third Thoughts are something we all have, but we just don't listen to them.

I remember being about 8 or 9 years old, and I was trying to build a canvass tent outside my home in Ipoh, at a spot where it is easy to find four corners to anchor the tent, but the spot happens to be near the drain. I know that if I decide to choose that spot and if it rains, the tent might get destroyed by rainwater coming from the car porch roof towards the drain, but at the same time I wanted to hear the sounds coming from the drain. On second thought I decided to move it nearer towards the roof's edge, but near enough the drain. Then it rained. Though the tent did get somewhat assaulted, it remained upright long enough for me to stay and enjoy it.

After reading Tiffany's adventure with the Feegles, I also came to the conclusion that just like Tiffany, at times life change 180 degrees, but that doesn't mean you should shy away from responsibility. Along the way you might find help, but even if no help came, everything shall come to pass.

I like Tiffany's way of handling the baron's son. It's creepy and powerful, I wish I could use the Feegles against some people who takes credit for other people's work like that too.

Now onto A Hat Full of Sky.

The mystery of reading

Of late there seems to be a theme among the manufacturers that skewed towards books, e-books, reading, using devices to read... and so on.

Hmm. I wonder if the emphasis on having the means to do so is enough to propel more people to read, as opposed to having something actually worth reading.

I work in a publishing house that love to blame writers when publications are not being picked up by the masses, so I guess there's something worth pondering over the quality of writing bowl, but how about other considerations such as where the publication is being placed for purchase, whether people know (or not) that the publication is available in the first place, or as simple as how much do they have to pay?

I like the Nexus 7 and latest Kindles if enabling devices are being considered, but there's no app to show if a particular book is any good. We rely on synopses and book reviews for information, but unlike movie trailers, many of these write ups do not tell us the kind of writing that's being offered or if the story will progress into something worthwhile.

I remember reading Olivia Joules and got sorely disappointed despite the glowing reviews it came with. Yet that didn't stop me from picking another title by the same author. Only this time I got wiser and went for an open package so that I could get a healthier sample.

If I were to be given so many enablers - better devices, better e-book platform to buy books, better payment system - I bet I'd be picking more books than usual, but I'd still be reading about as many books in a week as I've done before. (Time, is not something you can have more or less of.)

But that's me. I wonder if all the shiny gadgets would convert more new readers (especially the younger generation)...

I like this article

I know many people who aspire to be a writer, and even I write too sometimes so that I get a story that I alone like reading. On constant survey for writing tips and tricks, I stumbled across this article which a friend posted on Google+. Maybe you'll like it too.

The article, which is about how everything is fiction, was written by Keith Ridgway, author of short story, Goo Book. For me the sentence I relate to the most is this: "Your conversations are fiction."

I mean really, really, it just never occurred to me till that instant I read that sentence.

Olivia Joules, airhead + natural spy

I made a quick read of Helen Fielding's Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, which I had hoped to be of Bridget Jones quality.

Have to say I was disappointed, as I think Fielding made it as if Joules got lucky a lot of times during her (mis)adventure. I'd rather have Joules start off as an airhead, and eventually become wiser, but that would not be as interesting I supposed.

As I kept going (and this is the kind of book that you can put down, forget about it for a week then resume, not cause the storyline is that great that you can maintain interest, tis more of being one that isn't a page-turner) it crossed my mind more than a few times that Fielding was writing this title with hopes that it will be turned into a movie.

Thus you'll need the good looking guys, enough amount of terrorists spread through several exotic locations, a healthy amount of bimbos and himbos to make up an excuse to show skin and the usual amount of embarrassing situations, not to mention idiocy by the lovely Joules to fulfill the comedy quota.

All I have to say, if the book ever gets transposed into silver screen format, I hope it will be a much better experience for viewers than the book is for the readers.

To sum it all, I think I've wasted RM10 on this title.

"Coalesce"

I was reading an article I found on Yahoo site about Higgs Boson, and I stumbled upon this interesting word.

And the quote of the day comes from moi: It is hardest being generous when one is broke.

That's why I thought since I've got no money to contribute to the dire economies around the world today, I'd partake with a bit of knowledge instead. Click here to see if you can figure out why the word coalesce was used in the article - instead of regular words like 'unite' or 'join' or 'blend'.

Encore: A past relationship with Peter Mayle

The thing is, Peter Mayle and I have a er, whatchamacallit relationship. No, not that relationship, the reader-and-book relationship, not me and the man, no, he doesn't know I'm alive, and I'm not a long, lost grandchild.

Because I ain't that young.

Anyway. The thing is, I first found out about Peter Mayle nearly 10 years ago. That was when a sibling of mine was married to the first spouse, who introduced Mayle books to me. The first book shoved to me was A Year in Provence. I LOLed over the goat chapter.

So I went on to read Chasing Cezanne, whose street in Aix-en-Provence I managed graced not too long before that.

Then my sibling and the spouse got a divorce. I was cut off from the free-and-waiting supply of Mayle books, along with Dr Kay Scarpetta titles that the ex-spouse owns. I cursed myself for not devouring Anything Considered, which was gaining dust on their now discarded book shelf.

I tried looking for Mayle titles in my favourite book store. They didn't have any - they had some before, but if I want those old titles I'd have to order etc. I divorced the book store.

But fate has it that my relationship with Peter Mayle is not to end that soon, nor with the two divorces that took place within this last decade.

Just a couple of weeks ago, much to the delight of my income tax breaks account, I found two more Mayle books being sold at just RM10. Apparently the book store that sold it said most of its premise was flooded the week before the sale event, so many of their shelves need to be replaced and they don't have the space to put the books!

Was I rejoicing as I paid the RM20 (OK, it was RM50, I saw a Fielding title and a couple more of Pratchett's Discworld)? Not for the natural disaster, but yes, for the fast-thinking book store owner.

So to those of you who hasn't tried Mayle before, give it a read if you like humour and getting hungry while you read.

This is what I'm reading now.

Saga Artakusaid continues

It took me some time to post this entry cause I wasn't 'feeling' the new Blogger UI. Ach, I finally got over it.

Found something unexpected in my inbox today, a comment posted by Gapuraloka Enterprise inviting me to get the 8th title of the Saga Artakusaid series! Wow! Eight books already! Kudos to Ahmad Patria.

I am looking forward to updating my Saga Artakusaid collection, now that I know there's lots to catch up. Like I said in my earlier post, we (my sis and I) only have the first three.

In fact, I think the Book 1 - 6 collection would be a good birthday gift for my sis. Her fave character is Laira, the hero's love interest whose home is in the alternative realm. Time to find out if Laira lives up to our expectation...

Meme, word of the day

I was reading New Straits Times and Washington Post today and the word "meme" caught my attention twice. Yep. NST uses it, WP uses it too.

With a bit of digging, I found out that, "meme", as used in the two opinion articles I read earlier is pronounced "meem".


It means,

1. An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.
2. An image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another.

Oh Frampton

I've read many books, short stories etcetera, but one of my favourite pieces is The Open Window by Saki. This short story was read to me in my Form Four English Literature class by Mrs Goh, who did such a good job with it that I could actually visualise Frampton Nuttel sitting next to the open French window, right there braving the cold October chill, imagine how the new country scene affecting his ailed nerves...

If you have not had the pleasure of getting to know this piece of work, visit this link.

I just recommended this short story to a friend, an aspiring writer who asked me how should she start her first attempt at fiction.

So many things can inspire one's literary work. From The Open Window, the line that ends the short story, is something that can be expanded into a next chapter with the same character or built into a new work of fiction inspired by the lady whose Romance at short notice was her speciality.


A line that has inspired me to write many more words after (nope, I'm not a real writer just yet) is from Kung Fu Panda (yes the movie) that goes, "There's no such thing as coincidence."

Best of luck to all aspiring writers out there. You can do it! I can (beta) read it! :)

Pinterest for book lovers

I've stumbled across this new thing called Pinterest, and I was thinking tis such a cool tool for me to pin all the book covers that I like. I know, I know, that's so nerdy, but what to do, I am one of those folks who sometimes buy a hard copy cause the cover looks good.

I especially love the designs the publishers chose for gracing chic lits. It makes the world feel so bubble-gummy. I also love the illustrations on Terry Pratchett books and the graphics they put in fantasy titles.

Will have to wait for the invite though, as Pinterest only lets those invited in. Hmm, though at first this might sound a bit snobbish (other stuff like Flickr or Facebook or Twitter lets everyone who's anyone sign up...) I didn't get turned off somehow. My guess is the service became too popular too soon (fastest growing sites ever), so the people have to deal with a lot of back-end stuff to make the experience consistent for users...? Or I could be wrong.

I'll wait and give it a try anyway. I also plan to pin the places I've been to, the movies I've seen, the best photo I've taken and the deco ideas I love.

Who can afford to buy Readers' Digest nowadays?

Magazines - we all have to pick one of them up from time to time. Be it busting some time before your turn with the dentist or using it to whack the cockroach from under the sink, yeah, da zines can be of many use.

A good magazine can take you places. I remember growing up in Terengganu back in the 80s, my mom's government quarter was filled with Readers' Digest. Back then the mag was thicker, its covers not as flashy and the price.. the price! Oh how it has rose over the years.

I loved this magazine because there's a lot of pages a kid can appreciate. The 'Laughter, The Best Medicine' page, for example always comes with nice illustration and one-liners, of which it would take my mom eons to explain.

The other page I like is the last feature story in the magazine, where my mom would tell me what perils some good folks had to go through, and most of the time, after a couple of pages, the picture of all of them looking happy having came out of dire straits will be there.

Don't you just love happy endings? The only sad part about this entry is: Today when I passed by a copy of the magazine in the store, the price tag attached to it made me squirm.

How I love to buy it and have my kid grow up with it as I did. But with my ciput (small) gaji, I'd have to be frugal about things.

I walked away without it.

Now that I've reached my destination, I'm beginning to regret that decision.

Have you ever read a website?

I spent two days just going through the installations at Lux in Arcana - The Vatican Secret Archives Reveal Itself. I have to thank Dan Brown for triggering my interest in Vatican-related things, since reading his novels I found myself more keen to dig up world history.

I know, I know, you ask why get excited just over a website about an exhibition, right? But I liked the fact that the website is very informative, and it doesn't bore you. Mind you, it is facts and well, artifacts.

See I got acquainted with names like Mozart, Marie Antoinette, Napolean Bonaparte and Abraham Lincoln through movies and music, rather than books, so it was quite enlightening to see the entries on the website - each post made me realise that all these names are real people who lived once and their lives are still talked about till today.

Reading up on the background information on items on exhibition, especially on Knights of Templars, really made me wanna go there and see these stored for centuries articles myself. Wish I could afford it!

Still trying to finish...

... The World is Flat 2.0.

I heard tis a great book, a good read especially for folks who are in the tech industry and those who wants insights regarding trends and business models that apply in the online world.

But.

But.. I just could not finish it. I've loaned the book, which I only own cause Yahoo! gave it to me (that's another story to tell), and they've returned the book to me, and now it is on loan to yet another colleague.

I could not get through the second chapter. I'm stuck there. Since two years ago.

I was hospitalised, and the book was brought to me from home and that's when I first ventured into reading it. The first chapter was impressive. It contained all the names familiar to me (having been in the tech industry then for over 7 years) and I remember some of the milestones mentioned by the author. You know... Silicon Valley, the dotcom bubble, the outsourcing of experts, the emergence of new Silicon Valleys... One of the older doctors who came to check on me was impressed that I'm reading the book.

Now for the love of spaghetti I truly can not remember what the next chapter was all about.

So today, I brought the book in my bag, and I shall give it a read once again. Wish me luck!

Ahmad Patria Abdullah's work to be on screens

Growing up in a small Malaysian town called Ipoh, I had few opportunities to attend book fests. But in one of those few occasion back in early 90s, my sis and I spied a little title called 'Permata Aurorius', a work written by Ahmad Patria Abdullah and published by Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka.

The writer, a young man then, had painted a world apart from the one I knew. It was a fantasy that most kids dream of. The book had several more installations, and I managed to snag the next couple of titles.

However, we could not find the fourth book and subsequent titles. So I thought, well the Saga Artakusaid will be left unfinished, at least for me personally.

Yet a month ago I read in Berita Harian's literature section that the Saga will soon be retold in another format - silver screen! Woohoo!

Finally, I'll find out if the hero ever gets back to his own world, and will he take his love interest with him? Or will he remain in the alternative realm, and not see his family ever again?

And I'm thinking, it is good timing that the twenty year-old Saga be converted in to action as had it been done earlier, we may lack the expertise to bring the necessary effects in place.

In any case, I'm looking forward to catch the ending.

On my wishlist: SolarFocus' Solar Lighted Cover for Kindle

As I browse through the CES 2012 highlights, I found my way through the tree hugger maze and found this product, Solar Lighted Cover for Kindle manufactured by SolarFocus. Not only it harness the sun light to power up the Kindle, it also comes with a little slide-out LED light for you to read in the dark.

Cool eh?

So this gizzmo is on my wishlist!

And I also want a Kindle to go with that. Am I asking for too much?

I bid farewell to 2011 with...

... Daddy Long-Legs.

I mean, before Project Gutenberg I didn't even know it was a book - no thanks to Fred Astaire's marvellous footwork that left me wanting for more since the first time I saw it on telly.

I believe I was nine or ten when I saw the movie, shown on one of the RTM channels via the Golden something slot. Late night. I'm the only one awake (if Mom or Dad knows I'm dead). Very slow volume, but enough for me to make out what the actors were singing.

My "England" at that time was not that fantastic (nor it is now) but the wonderful dancing and the bits and pieces I caught gave me enough understanding of the movie to fall in love with it.

I remember one song, in which one of the lyrics go something like "Don't marry me" - I wasn't too sure if it was Fred's or Leslie's line, but it was enough to inform me that while the two is in love, their age difference made it quite clear that society at that time would not tolerate Hugh Hefner-Playboy Bunny kinda relationship.

Now that I've discovered Jean Webster's 1912 novel, Daddy-Long-Legs, I learnt that the film had over-dramatised some of the facts.

For example, the heroine's original name is Jerusha, but she prefers Judy. In the movie, it was Julie. I bet a nice solo song and dance routine of Jerusha musing over some other nice name she could've ended up with if it was not chosen off a phone book and a grave stone.

The age difference between Jervis Pendleton III and Jerusha Abbott is less than 10 years. Hardly matters, in this day and age. In the movie, Astaire is made to look ancient and Julie very childish. But then Astaire had always looked old, even in his youth. This bit I forgive.

All in all, if I have to decide between the book and the movie, I'd choose both.

The book is HILARIOUS! If you have not had a chance to read it, please, find it at www.projectgutenberg.org and search using the book's name (don't forget the hyphens) or under author name, Webster. It is free! I love the letter writing format - it gave me ancess into Jerusha Abbott's inner feelings and experiences, though when the book ended I wished it had given me more details in between, such as the "fine conversations" Jerusha and Jervis had while he visited her in college.

The movie is a great watch. Though some of the songs are way too long, but it is (never forget this) a Fred Astaire masterpiece. You'll love Caron's funny facial expressions as well - in fact now that I've read the book, I bet Caron had read it too to inject that new-to-the-world looks as she goes through higher education.

So yes, my 2011 ended well, and I'm going to dig in more into Gutenberg's well in 2012. See you there.

p/s: pix of the movie's poster borrowed from Wikipedia.