Archive for 2010
Final thoughts on Fight Club
While I sit here 9.31am on my Labor Day Holiday, I’ve got the DVD in the player and we’re nearly ready to go. I thought I’d write a bit about Fight Club before I proceed to American History X.
To me Edward Norton was always a second-grade actor, never really considered him anywhere near inspiring. However, Fight Club & The Magician seem to be proving me wrong, there is something to his acting that does to a certain extent…inspire. That being said, I feel he still feels boring, although that may be the characters he’s chosen. Bruce Banner was never a really inspiring role to take in The Hulk anyway.
Helena Bonham Carter as well seems to be taking these ‘semi-crazy’ to total ‘whacked-out’ roles to new heights. I’d always remember her as the evil sorcerer from Harry Porter, but she’s also done work for Corpse Bride, Planet of the Apes, Sweeney Todd , Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Terminator and Big Fish. You can tell she’s carved out a nice niche for herself, and actually is kinda hot, in a scary terrifying kinda way.
That being said, the story still falls short. Fight Club ends with an absolute bang, and the story isn’t engaging enough for me. Maybe it’s my preference for real-life stories which fight club certainly is not. I would say the story is a mixture of Old School and Identity. Although it pre-dates both those movies. I was half expecting Will Ferrel to run naked through the movie but that never happened. The ending though, when it all falls into place, is kinda cool and worth the movie. I understand why it’s where it is on the list (No. 16), but I would prefer it go a bit lower. There are far better movies below it.
Now I’m waiting for American History X, which I’m told is a pretty good movie about racism. I love those kinda movies. Alright so we’re on to American History X (no. 38) starring Edward Norton, and let’s see if this guy is all he’s cracked up to be.
That’s my 2 cents. Don’t spend it all in one place.
There really is something at the end
Malaysian politics is full of posers. People who pretend to know things they don’t, people who claim they can solve your problems, politicians (all of them) think money is an renewable resource something that never stops growing, that we get from an infinite pool that never ends. It isn’t.
I’m fed-up of politics. Fed up of Racist stereotypical bozos running this beautiful country. The government or the opposition, they’re no different than anyone. Would you turn down 100 billion dollars if you saw it? So don’t judge Mahathir, lest you be Judged.
That’s why I’m staying off politics….and moving to movies. The quest for the year is to watch ALL 250 movies on the IMDB top 250. All of them by the end of the year.
If I watched the movie before, I’ll watch it again. Movies connect people and provides for more conversation than the weather, yet we rarely tap into this artistic passion we hold. Everybody has a favorite movie…EVERYBODY. So I’m watching them all, chances are I’ve watched your favorite movie and that gives us something to talk about the next time I see you.
So join me as we move this along.
First Movie of the Quest…FIGHT CLUB.
In one word…GREAT ENDING. Well actually that’s two words. I confessed that I forced myself through the middle, I even posted a short review on Facebook before the movie ended. I was wrong. What started out as a boring loser movie (think Nicholas Cage in Weathermen), turns out to be a fantastic thrill at the end. The last ten minutes, I couldn’t stop it was an excellent ending to an excellent movie.
Another thing you should know about the movie, is that those flashes in the beginning and the end, that you thought were because of a dirty DVD or a bad download, are there on purpose. Take a closer look at this youtube video.. There’s only one word for this, GENIUS.
If you haven’t watch it, you don’t know what you’re missing.
If you’ve watched it… try looking out for those flashes of Brad Pitt or that…
Well let’s just say there really is something at the end.
My 200th Post
This is officially the 200th post of my blog.
Although I haven’t posted for nearly 3 months (that’s a whole financial quarter), this blog will still live on. It’s a strange thing about the internet, that as cost of storage hits near-zero my blog (and all it’s quirky contents) will remain forever on record until I intentionally delete it. (or blogger goes bust)
The blog is officially 7 years old, my first post was on April Fools day 2003, and 7 days before my 27th birthday it officially became 7. It’s older than the Ipod Nano (but not the Ipod Classic) and is one of the longest endevaours I’ve ever kept.
7 years is a long time, and just 200 post in that time is a tiny amount any way you slice it. I need to either up my game or give this up. I’m still undecided. Anyway this is to signal to everyone that I’m back and a commitment to this blog is back up and running, and I’ll re-valuate this blog from time to time. My next post will be in before the end of the week.
I don’t know Islam but I know logic
If the Muslim governments of the Arab states and the secular government of Indonesia (the most populous muslim nation) allow Christians in their countries to call on God as Allah, you have to either accept:
1) Christians cannot call on God as Allah ; the Arab States AND Indonesia have wrongly interpreted Islam – OR
2) Christians can call on God as Allah and there is nothing Theologically wrong with it.
Choose.
If there is nothing wrong with it Theologically, then why is UMNO making so much noise? Otherwise, what makes you entirely certain that everyone else in every nation got the interpretation of Islam wrong , and only our wise Malaysian government got it right?
Learn how to respond to ignorance.
Of course there is a 3rd possibility, that I include here for the sake of completeness, that both the Arab states and Malaysia are right or they both are wrong. This would have to entail that the laws of Islam are not pervasive nor permanent, that they are flexible and change with regards to the context of the country/socio-political influences. I don’t think anyone would have you believe that Islam has rules or laws that are flexible based on the country. It’s like a Catholic saying abortion is OK as long as you do it in the right country.
Of course, that is where we stand.
Choose where you stand.
Let’s all have a talk about Allah
The matter of whether Christians can or cannot used the word Allah is not a matter for merely Muslims and Christians.
Considering that the Sikhs have been referring to Allah as God must bode well for religious ties in this country. Of course UMNO and their hate blogs can’t see this oppurtunity, and instead have begun the finger pointing.
The way to end this once and for all, is to have a referendum. A simple referendum that will pose this question to every registered voter in Malaysia:
“Does the government have a right to deny the usage of the word ‘Allah’ to non-Muslims? “
This is not a religious issue, to consider it a matter for Islam, means we’ve already assumed that the word Allah ‘belongs’ to Muslims. It does not belong to anyone, the last time I checked there was no Trademark on Allah. This is a matter for which every strata of society have a say, to make their voice heard.
When churches are being torched, the Hindus , the Buddhist, the Taoist and even Agnostics and Atheist have a say. This is a simple matter of the rights of the minority in a Muslim Majority country.
All the debates can be had and the ceramahs, but at the end of the day, the referendum will prove the final showdown between bigotry and unity.
I’m not afraid. Even though Christians and Sikhs will make up less than 10% of the total vote. I’m not afraid, even though most people who do not bother much about this issue will not vote. I’m not afraid that some Christians view the usage of Allah as theologically unsound and vote YES on the referendum.
I’m not afraid because I strongly believe that the majority of Malays in this country (who by definition are Muslim), feel that the Government has gone overboard. They don’t feel threatened if Christians start using Allah, they are not as Myopic and childish as UMNO to believe that they can somehow claim property of Islam. They respect Islam much more than that.
I believe, that in a Referendum, where everybody gets equal voice no matter how loud you shout, we will finally here the voice of the majority, rather than the insignificant minority of bigots like Mahathir. These bigots hope that by shouting loudly, they can mask the actually feelings of my Malay brothers and sisters.
So let’s have the referendum, let’s see how Barisan does without the Sabah and Sarawak ‘fixed deposits’. Let’s see whether their 49% popular vote in Peninsular will remain or dwindle to nothingness and go missing like Jet Engines.
Let’s see if Najib has the balls to have a Referendum and let’s finish this debacle once and for all.
For all those who claim to speak for the Malays, you should support this move. After all Malays make up more than 60% of the country. All you need is the Malay vote and you’re fine, you don’t even need the non-Malay vote for this. Or are you now questioning your position considering nobody bothered to protest throughout the whole country?
I think Kanna Curry House in Jalan Gasing got more customers for Friday lunch, than this supposedly ‘strong’ protest had protestors. Which basically says, that more Malaysians are concerned about some delicious fish curry then denying Allah to the non-Muslims.
Speaking of protestors: See the yellow placard behing the guy in Blue. It says: “Treat others the way that they wish to be treated” and the guy actually has a clenched fist. Which is good, because I want to be treated as a Malay in this country and get my 7% bumi discount and APs.
But I believe that his real intention was to say “Treat others the way that YOU wish to be treated”, this is the stupidity we’re up against. People who probably can’t speak english and who don’t know the difference between Protestants and Catholic churches. This is the stupidity of people who won’t even proof-read placards that may appear in the Newspaper. You’re telling me we can’t win a referendum against such stupidity.
I believe that Malaysia is at a turning point, the night is darkest just before the dawn, and a dawn is approaching.
UMNO will not last the next General election, that I can guaran-damn-tee. Pack your bags and head for the hills, boys, cause you won’t win anymore elections from here on it. You are nothing more than hate-spewing, divisive, egotistical bigots. You’d better be moving your ill-gotten gains of the country, for when you’re no longer in power…..the law will hunt your ass down.
So whaddaya say about the referendum? You with me.
That’s my 2 cents. Don’t spend it all in one place.
How to respond to Ignorance
This Allah debacle is getting out of hand.
We now have an entire alliance of bloggers, calling themselves Bloggers against blasphemy. People who supposedly uphold the sanctity of Islam by dividing Christians and Muslims.
I will point out how to respond to this ignorance, but also ask the question of who insults the name of Allah, the Catholics who worship him or the Muslims who draw cartoons around this name?
Here’s how we should respond to this level of Ignorance. Here are the main points these people offer and what you should reply.
1) Why the sudden urge to use “Allah”, it will only create mis-trust.
The East Malaysians have been using Allah for centuries, and even Mahathir has admitted that Christians in East Malaysia have been using Allah since before the inception of Malaysia. The question is why the Government has had a sudden urge in preventing us from using it. The government is the one creating mis-trust.
2) It doesn’t matter if the Arab world use it, you have to look at the context.
Once again, the context is Malaysia, which includes Sabah and Sarawak and the history of Christianity in Sabah and Sarawak that traditionally used Allah to call on God. The context is Malaysia as a whole, not just peninsular Malaysia, not just Sabah and Sarawak. The people in Sabah and Sarawak and Christians and speak Malay, I know it’s hard for UMNO to understand this but there are people in Sabah and Sarawak that can only converse in Malay AND are Christians.
It is their myopia in defining Malaysia as what they see in only Peninsular Malaysia that blinds them from the truth.
3) Allah is the God of the Muslims.
Fair enough, but I worship the God the Abraham. The God of Isaac and Ishmael, the God of Hagar.
I worship the God that appeared to Moses as the burning bush. The God of the Archangel Gabriel who visited Mary at the Annunciation. Who do Muslims worship, isn’t it one and the same?
4) The Catholic understanding of Allah is different from the Muslims.
Fair enough, I believe in the Trinity.
Do Muslims believe in Jesus as the Son of God, who came down from Heaven to redeem my sins? Do they believe he rose from the dead?
Would it be right for me to prevent Muslims from referring to Nabi Isa (pbuh), would it be right for Christians to ask Muslims to remove Nabi Isa from any sacred literature as it would confuse the Christians? No.
The correct thing to do is for Christians to educate Christians about the similarities (and differences) between Christianity and Islam, and to embrace the commonalities. Not drive wedges and divide. Just because your understanding is different doesn’t mean I can deny you usage of the word Jesus (or Isa). More importantly, Christians do not own Jesus, he is for everyone. I would be ashamed of Christians seeking to remove Jesus from Islamic text.
5) Catholics will use this to convert the Muslims.
Confident Muslims are not easily confused. Muslims will not enter a church and think it is a Mosque simply because we use the word Allah.
If a Muslims child ask why do the Christians worship Allah as well, isn’t it a fantastic opportunity for a parent to explain to the child their own faith. It is not a threat to Islam , the usage of Allah is an opportunity for dialogue and understanding.
Why is the topic of conversion such a hot-topic these days. Sure it’s illegal, but are Muslims so insecure in their own faith that they are afraid of people converting them? Surely Muslims in this country that take Pendidikan Islam as a subject all the way to Form 5 are more secure in their beliefs and faith than that…. and if they aren’t, is that the fault of the Christians or the religious authorities?
I can only pity
I can only pity the self-proclaimed moderate Muslims of Demi Negara, Rocky, Lowyar Kampung, Jebat must die and the bloggers against blasphemy. I can only pity them for their blindness and ignorance, for in their ignorance they sow the seeds of hatred among Muslims and Christians, in their blindness and ignorance they fail to see commonalities choosing instead to focus on the uncommon.
Christianity and Islam have much more in common than one might think. If we compare:
Similarities
1) We both worship a one ever loving and all powerful God.
2) We both believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus (even some Christian denominations do not believe this)
3) We both believe that Marys Son Jesus Ascended into Heaven. (the same Jesus from the Virgin birth)
4) We both believe Moses talked to God at the burning bush (and we both believe the first thing God did was ask him to take of his shoes)
5) We both believe in that Jonah(Yunus) was swallowed by a fish, that John (Yahya) was sent by God to proclaim the coming of Jesus, that David (and his son Solomon) were Kings of Israel and we believe and that there was a great flood in the land of which God saved the righteous Noah(Nuh) by commanding him to build an Ark.
Some Christians churches have chosen to distant themselves from the Virgin Birth, choosing instead to explain the birth of Jesus through Marys rape at the hands of a Roman Soldier. This means that it’s possible that Catholics share more in common with Muslims that with people who consider themselves Christians.
Yet no one talks of this. None of these bloggers against Blasphemy would speak of the commons between us, instead they seek to divide us by focusing on aspects that are different, and prevent fruitful and meaningful conversations between Christians and Muslims.
The similarities do not just end there, we share many other beliefs in common:
MORE Similarities
1) We believe in a Heaven and a Hell (it’s not as common a belief as you might think)
2) We believe that homosexuality is a sin (many churches do not subscribe to this)
Not just beliefs, but the manner in which we pray:
3) We both have calls to prayer (the Azan and Church Bells) , which annoy and awake others but sound like music to our ears
4) We both have months of fast (Ramadhan and Lent), although I’ve been slacking on Lent these past few years.
5) We both have one day dedicated for prayer as a community (Friday and Sunday), the Jewish people pray on a Saturday (which works out pretty well)
So therefore, when I hear the Azan near my house, at an hour I have barely awoken it annoys me a little. But I take comfort (and PRIDE) in the fact that my Muslim brother is calling out and worshiping the same God I worship, the same God of Abraham. We may differ on many things, but we both believe that there is but one God. And if we both worship one true God then logically we must be worshiping the same God.
If you were to ask me who create the Heavens and the Earth, I would have no qualms proudly proclaiming it was Allah that did so. My brothers and sisters in East Malaysia would say it so instinctively.
I pity the Muslims that feel differently, I pray they may come to accept these things. They are being stirred up by rash, irrational and power hungry politicians who themselves have hired rash, irrational and hate-spewing bloggers push their agenda of division.
Consider this article from Demi Negara, or this one from Small talks. Rocky claims that these are the views of the ‘moderate’ Muslim. They only thing moderate about these guys is their blogs. They are nothing more than hate-spewing divisive articles that forget that Malaysia is a country that INCLUDES Sabah and Sarawak. People who have a right to call their God the same name they’ve been calling him for Centuries.
To insist that Sabahans and Sarawakians change the way they refer to God is similar to insisting that Muslims in other countries refrain from using Allah, or that Muslims should not refer to Jesus unless they refer to him as the Son of God.
The biggest blockers to meaningful dialogue are these guys. They love to divide, they love to play the victim when in fact they oppress ….and continue to oppress. How can we take any of them seriously, when they release articles like this. Who thinks he insults me when he say may Allah bless Augustine Paul? I’m not sure if he’s stupid or just plain ignorant, but let me make it clear. I will have no problems at my funeral for people to say “May Allah bless his soul” or anything to that effect.
Why is it I can’t use Allah to call on God, but these guys can use the word in comedy and satire? Who is insulting the name of Allah now?
This comic taken from this link. It’s the same blogger that’s starting the Bloggers against Blasphemy group. As a Christian I can’t use Allah simply because of my religion, but a Muslim can draw up a comic mocking the the word and get away scot-free?
That’s my 2 cents. Don’t spend it all in one place.
May Allah bless Malaysia.
Allah in East Malaysia
Quick….of the top of your head name all countries that have a land border with Malaysia.
Keep that in mind, we’ll be using it later.
Mahathir has recently said that :
“I accept the term ‘Allah’ had been used in Sabah and Sarawak before the two states joined Malaysia but it is difficult to stop them from doing so now… but in the peninsular, we have not heard of such practice“
So we have Mahathir Admiting that the status quo BEFORE this was that Christians were “allowed” to use the word Allah. Doesn’t this mean that it’s the Government that’s the one persuing this issue? Doesn’t this mean that it’s the Government that’s dragging this issue and creating un-rest?
It’s all in a days work for the UMNO government isn’t it.
Christians have been using it all this while and now we have a bunch of rag-tag UMNO hawks stiring tensions over the name. Let’s dissect the points one by one:
1) Christians have using the word Allah since before Malaysia was created. FACT
2) Christians in other parts of the world, including Indonesia (where the national language isn’t arabic) use the word Allah to refer to God. FACT.
3) If by using the word Allah, Christians can easily conver Muslims, there would be no more Muslims in this country. FACT. (you think it’s that easy to convert meh?)
4) UMNO has threatened that Muslims will rise up if pushed against the wall. The actual FACT is that it’s the Christians and the Buddhist and the Hindus that are pushed against the wall. Has anyone forgotten the Al-Islam journalist, the Seksyen 23 Cow Head Protest, the Mao Tze statue, the Shah Alam Church that was forced to be built in a Factory lot? Al-Islam may not be a Government arm, but has the Government taken action?
5) UMNO has drawn an analogy that only if Christians agree to Hindus using the name Jesus Christ as one of their gods will they agree that it’s fair. CHILDISH. People do not re-name Gods to spite others, and more importantly how you feel is irrelevant as to whether the Government has a legal standing in preventing Christians from using the word Allah. They don’t.
6) Nobody seemed to care about the Herald until it began to publish political inclined articles in the run up to the 2008 election. Thank you Home Ministry.
7) UMNO cannot speak for Peninsular Malaysia since Barisan Nasional LOST the popular vote there. Think about it, 51% of the popular vote in Peninsular Malaysia went to Pakatan, therefore if anybody can claim to speak for the residents of Peninsular Malaysia it will be Pakatan. UMNO can speak for East Malaysia, where Christians have been using the term for ages. UMNO represents no one, so Shut up.
8) You cannot divide and conquer East and West Malaysia, we are one country.So the ruling is relevant for both. Furthermore the bahasa section in the Herald is targetted not at Muslims but at East Malaysians whose mother tongue is Bahasa. To say otherwise is ignorant and foolish.
9) Has any Muslim read the Herald? It is most definitely NOT an attempt to convert, the articles there are more community news than anything else. Will it really convert Muslims knowing that Fr. so-and-so has returned from surgery or the form 4 students of Parish so-and-so held a camp? It’s like saying the Star Metro section can convert you to Islam. Ignorant and Foolish.
10) Finally, it is just plain stupid for a Government to mandate that Christians cannot use a word simply because they are Christians………
That’s my 2 cents. Don’t spend it all in one place.
Oh, and did you forget Brunei? If you did that just reflects our vision of Malaysia, we tend to forget East Malaysia (who by the way contribute significantly to our GDP and Government income)
The story of Allah
Do you believe in God? Specifically do you believe in a One and Only God? Do you believe he has a name? Do you believe this God gets angry and do you believe he will smite down the un-belivers?
When Moses was at the burning bush, God commanded him to go the Isralites(Jews) in Egypt and set his people free. The Isralites were slaves in the Egyptian Empire and Moses was commanded by God to go to the Pharoah and DEMAND the release of his people.
The analogy is someone going up to Barack Obama and DEMANDING that he release the prisoners at Gitmo. Though the Pharoah of ancient egypt was far more powerful and dictatorial than Obama and the slaves of Egypt were an essential part to their economy of grain grown along the Nile.
So Moses obviously stunned and afraid, ask a simple question. Whom shall I say has sent me? What is the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Gods answer is cryptic, “I am who I am, tell the Isralites I AM has sent me to you”
It is this I AM that many scholars believe is the root of the word Yahweh, the traditional way the Jews call God.
The name of God however is unimportant, the most important part of this great conversation between Moses and God is the fact that God starts it off by introducing himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham is the regarded as the spiritual father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Abraham is the central figure in the old testament of Christianity, the central figure in the Torah and central figure of Islam.
The story of Abraham is essential to understanding the commonality between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Abram and his wife Sarai were old and without child. One day , God appears to Abram and makes him a promise that his descendants would be as countless as the stars in the night sky. On this night, God commands Abram to change his name to Abraham (a common theme in the bible that when people were chosen for Great things, their names would be changed).
Abraham accepts the promise of God, but his wife Sarai one day persuades Abraham to sleep with their slave girl Hagar. Hagar becomes pregnant and gives Abraham his first son Ishmael. It is during this time that Hagar begins to treat Sarai badly for Sarai was barren and already old.
Then one day three men appear to Abraham and tell him that in 90 days they shall return and Sarai would bear him a son. It is on this occasion that Sarai named is changed to Sarah, and true enough in 90 days Sarah gave birth to a child named Isaac.
After the birth of Isaac, Sarah orders Hagar and Ishmael to leave into the wilderness which makes Abraham sad (since Ishmael was also his son), but an angel of the Lord appears to Abraham promising him that the descendants of Ishamel will also be a great nation. This promised is reinforce in the wilderness, when Hagar desperate for help is approached by and angel that reaffirms Gods promise to Abraham. Ishmael would marry and Egyptian girl.
Abraham has gone from having no sons to two sons, both of which are promised to be the fathers of great nations.
The story continues and Isaac has a Son named Jacob. Jacob would one day wrestle with and angel, and the the angel would give him the name Israel. It is Jacob’s twelve sons that would be the twelve tribes of Israel. (did you notice the name change?)
And there in lies the story of Israel, the story of the Jews.
The split between Islam and Judaism lie in this narrative, the Muslims (and Arabs) consider themselves descendants of Ishmael the son of Hagar and that Ishmael is the rightful heir to the Abraham, while the Christians and Jews consider themselves descendants of Isaac (and more specifically his son Jacob).
However, many generations after this narrative, God appears again to a man named Moses and tells Moses that he is the God of Abraham. The same God that both the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac worship, and that God would set his people free from slavery in Egypt.
Even with this commonality we have those who would divide and continue to instill hatred and bigotry. Including those that hope to prevent Christians from using the word Allah, a word so common in the Arab world, that the descendants of Ishmael who would convert to Christianity use on a daily basis.
We have those who would protest in order to gain exclusivity to the name of God, and the word ‘God’.Are these people so blinded by ignorance and arrogance that they cannot see pass their own bigotry? Claiming exclusivity to a word that they feel threatens national security? Do these people have no shame? Their ignorance, that the Christians of Sabah and Sarawak (the natives of our great nation) have been using the word Allah for hundreds of years.
Their complete ignorance of Sabah and Sarawak is emblematic of their pride that they forget Malaysia is bigger than they imagine it to be, more diverse than their little mono-culture space. Unless they accept that Malaysia is diverse and that every religion and creed is free to profess their religion they are not Malaysians…they are the outsiders, the bigoted hatred of UMNO.They are the ones who should leave Malaysia, they are the ones who shame us.
Let us not focus on our differences but on our commonality the ties that bind us together, should not be threaten by a group of hooligans holding placard pretending to be defenders of their faith. We should reject their version of Hatred and Bigotry, reject their politics of race and religion and more importantly reject their calls for uprising.
That’s my 2 cents, don’t spend it all in one place.