Ipoh Food: Maria's Pasta and Beefburger

Last week I was at Maria's at Greentown. It was 7pm on a Saturday night so it was rather surprising that we were the first customers.

While it's not Maria's signature dish, we were craving for some spaghetti. We ordered Spaghetti Chicken Bolognese off the menu and Maria's delivered the very expected quality. The Bolognese sauce, mixed with minced chicken meat had a good balance of richness in taste.

Prior to Maria's we had a screening at a local cinemas for this movie. That explains the choice of Beefburger with Fries. The combination of bread and beef patty were easily good to the taste buds. The fries were fatter than the common ones but still allows persistent chomps to the finish.

All in all, there was this great satisfaction where Maria's had delivered, with great assistance from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Rating: 7/10

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譚詠麟 - 朋友 (Alan Tam - Friends) and Some Karaoke Songs

This old song was in the first cassette tape I have ever purchased back in 1987. The choice was more of my dad's.

The song is good, no doubt about it. Honestly I never really did like it back then. I was more attracted to songs like Michael Jackson's Bad or Kylie Minogue's I Should Be So Lucky.

Two weeks ago I bought Alan Tam and Hacken Lee's 2009 Concert CD (左麟右李演唱会2009) and listened to the song again. I tried singing along to it and I was surprised that I succeeded in covering 90% of them. I got more conscious of the lyrics and realised how meaningful and universal they were. Chinese lyrics often express the best out of fewest words possible. In Alan Tam's 朋友's case, needless to say, it's all about true friendship.

The song is so darn famous that no one realised that the music arrangement (not the melody and lyrics) is a direct imitation of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You.



Never mind that.

Singing at karaokes are better with Chinese tunes. I have managed to expand my list:

Beyond - 海闊天空
側田 - 男人 Ktv
劉德華 - 再說一次 我愛你
劉德華 - 情人 Happy Birthday
劉德華 - 愛不完
劉德華 - 謝謝你的愛 (國)
周杰倫 - 安靜
周杰倫 - 彩虹
周杰倫 - 星晴
周杰倫 - 藉口
周杰倫 - 退後
(I only know Jay Chou's songs if the title's two words or less... haha)
周杰倫 - 黑色幽默
張國榮 - 今生今世
張國榮 - 追
張智霖 - 祝君好
王力宏 - Kiss Goodbye
譚詠麟 - 一生中最愛
譚詠麟 - 半夢半醒
譚詠麟 - 幻影
譚詠麟 - 愛在深秋
譚詠麟 - 忘不了你
譚詠麟 - 朋友
譚詠麟 - 霧之戀
陳小春 - 取消資格
陳小春 - 獻世
黎明 - 對不起, 我愛妳

There are songs I want to learn:
劉德華 - 一起走過的日子
劉德華 - 如果有一天
劉德華 - 缺陷美
劉德華 & 梁朝偉 - 無間道
周杰倫 - 千里之外
周杰倫 - 回到過去
周杰倫 - 菊花台
周杰倫 - 說好的幸福呢
李克勤 - 一生不变
林子祥 & 葉倩文 - 選擇
陶喆 - 就是爱你
黎明 - 情深說話未曾講

English songs are more convenient. The only setback is the karaoke centres are too cheapskate to buy their original videos! 95% of Chinese songs are using original videos. I'm definitely sending my kids to Chinese schools!

Anyways, here are the romanized pinyin lyrics to 譚詠麟 - 朋友.

faan sing lau dung woh nei tung lo
繁 星 流 動 和 你 同 路
chung bat seung sik hoi chi sam jip gan
從 不 相 識 開 始 心 接 近
mak mak yi jan ji doi yan

默 默 以 真 摯 待 人
yan sang yue mung pang yau yue mo
人 生 如 夢 朋 友 如 霧
naan dak ji sam gei ging fung bo
難 得 知 心 幾 經 風 暴
wai jeuk ngoh bat tui boon bo jing si nei
為 著 我 不 退 半 步 正 是 你

yiu yiu maan hung dim dim sing gwong sik sik seung gwaan
遙 遙 晚 空 點 點 星 光 息 息 相 關
nei ngoh na pa ging gik po moon lo
你 我 那 怕 荊 棘 舖 滿 路
tai ngoh gaai hoi sam jung dik goo daan si sui ming baak ngoh
替 我 解 開 心 中 的 孤 單 是 誰 明 白 我

ching tung leung sau yat hei hoi sam yat hei bei seung
情 同 兩 手 一 起 開 心 一 起 悲 傷
bei chi fan daam jung bat fan ngoh waak nei
彼 此 分 擔 總 不 分 我 或 你
nei wai liu ngoh ngoh wai liu nei
你 為 了 我 我 為 了 你
gung foo waan naan juet mong lui gan ak nei sau pang yau
共 赴 患 難 絕 望 裡 緊 握 你 手 朋 友

Some Questions and Some Answers

I don't usually post forwarded Powerpoint slides. They don't usually warrant articles interesting enough. However, this one poses some universal answers to some universal questions. I do find them interesting.

Which day is the most beautiful day of your life?
Today.

What is the easiest thing to do in life?
A mistake.

What's the greatest obstacle?
Fear.

The most profound tragedy in life?
Abandonment.

The root of all evil?
Egotism.

The most wonderful entertainment and fun?
Work, of course!

The greatest failure?
Lack of faith.

The best teachers?
Kids.

The absolute prime need?
Contact with another human being.

What brings a person the greatest feeling of satisfaction?
Being of help to somebody and being appreciated.

The greatest mystery?
Death.

The most serious human failing?
Lack of sense of humor.

The greatest enemy?
Deceit and lies.

The worst emotion?
Anger.

The most wonderful gift?
Forgiveness

The #1 most desired necessity?
One's own "home".

The quickest way forward?
Certainty.

The most wonderful feeling?
Inner peace.

The best defense?
A smile.

The best medicine?
Optimism.

The greatest might on earth?
Faith.

The people whom we need most of all?
Our parents.

The most beautiful of all?
LOVE.

Intelligence without love makes you perverse.
Fairness and justness without love makes you inflexible and stern.
Diplomacy and tact without love makes you a hypocrite.
Success without love turns you arrogant.
Wealth without love makes you mean and tight-fisted.
Poverty without love turns you into a radical.
Beauty without love makes you capricious.
Authority and power without love lead to tyranny.
Labor without love turns you into a slave.
Naivety without love deprives you of values.
Prayer and worship without love turns you into an egotist.
Faith without love turns you into a fanatic.
Bearing your cross in life without love becomes a terrible burden.
LIFE WITHOUT LOVE LOSES ITS MEANING!

Top 10 Rejected Blog Entries

#10 The First Time I Got Drunk
Sample content: … not matter. When I took a good look, then I suddenly remembered that I had Hawaiian Pizza with extra cheese for lunch and some….

#9 Why I Like The Beatles
Sample content: … know but when I listen to their music, I feel good. I really like their songs. They are very well written. I really, really like them. In fact, I’m listening to them now as I am….


#8 Top 10 Things You Should/Shouldn’t Know About My Retarded Housemate (now ex-housemate)
Sample content: … defined as “weirdo” mostly. He came home one day and started to laugh with sarcasm, like “Ha-ha-ha. Very funny.” I wasn’t sure why he laughed so I asked him. Then I found out it was actually a response to a funny comment about his haircut that I had made about three days earlier. Guess I….

#7 Places I Used To Frequently Visit As A Child
Sample content:

… Dr Lim’s clinic a lot. It was located at Old Town, Ipoh. Whenever I’m there I always see sick people around me. That was probably why I felt so sick, even after visiting the doctor. So sick, I wasn’t….

#6 Top 10 Songs I Listened To Whenever I Play Windows Solitaire

Sample content: … # 1 The Carpenters – Solitaire ….


#5 Top 10 Girls Whom Rejected Me and How I Felt After That

Sample content: … remark “Can we be friends?” She asked whether we could still be friends. What, is that a consolation pity giveaway prize so that her guilt so that….

#4 How To Play The Guitar And Not Make Any Sound
Sample content: … to move your head in the direction your guitar head is heading. If it’s rocking like a horse to the front, you may need to nod your head in sync with…


#3 The Things I Used To Do When I Was In Primary School, Between 4 and 5pm on Weekdays

Sample content: … usually eat at about 1:30pm and finish at 2pm. TV starts to get boring after 3pm so I didn’t really have much to do except…

#2 10 Steps on How I Generate My Passwords and ATM PIN Numbers

Sample content: … yet quite simple. First I throw the dice. If the dice lands on the floor, I would use my third aunt’s birth date. If it lands on the table, I would get a calculator and tap on the numbers with my eyes closed. Right now my current ATM PIN is….

#1 How I Did Nothing Today

Sample content: … and after that I switched it off. Subsequently, I had nothing much to do. In fact a bit later, I didn’t do anything either. Really, nothing much could have been done. So I just chose to stick to doing nothing. Which I did the same….

Have You Watched Free Television Lately?

I read The Star newspaper. For the past few years, I have been seeing too many ads from TV2 that never fail to deliver irritating nerves down my spine. Seriously, I don't understand why there is a need to dedicate a full page ad to remind people to watch movies on TV. It would make revenue sense if these movies were sponsored by corporate brands like Coca-Cola or maybe Maxis. On TV2, these movies are sponsored by the people who provide revenues to the income-tax department. Yep, these movies are fully funded by TV2, which is part of Radio Televisyen Malaysia, which is funded by the government. That simply means that YOU paid for the movies.

Let's take a look at one of the ads.

Unbelievable isn't it? There are so many things wrong with it, I could use a red pen and make multiple crosses everywhere. And then put an F with a circle on top. CRAP!

First, let's look at two very expensive Hollywood movies. The two Marvel comics adaptation of a superhero families are shown back to back. On the newspaper ad, they are not. Their job is to sandwich a movie that were probably made out of a budget that is approximately 10% of Fantastic Four Part One. CRAP!

CRAP!

Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer probably made 6000 times the box office takings of Sholay. Yet Sholay gets a bigger box. CRAP!

I ain't trying to belittle Sholay here. But it's my money that was used to get rights to show Fantastic Four on TV. The cost should be so much higher than Sholay. It would only do justice to common sense to give FF2 a bigger box. Heck, dedicate an entire page to FF2! CRAPPP!!!!

Then there is this movie called Chermin.

What the heck did they leave an empty space on the right side for? For the sake of the two ladies closing their eyes facing emptiness? Or creatively, they made it look as if Afdlin's head is too big for the bottom box? CRAP!!

First, they hire a school kid to design this ad.

Then the school kid downloads some images from the Internet.

Then he uses Microsoft Paint to place the movie pictures.

Then the school kid gets paid like RM100.

Then TV2 pays, like, RM800,000,000.00 for this ad.

The ad company is happy.

And they leave a name card at the bottom.

CRAP!!!



Oh, remember to watch the movies ya. Because you have paid for them already, you know.