Orangina... Orang-Gila

Remember this drink from yester-years?? I used to love the advert on TV with those pretty looking French girls with those orange on their heads. Remember?? My father used to mock the advert on tv which ended with a French guy wailing out Orangina.... and changed it to OrangGila. I can never look at an Orangina bottle and not think of the word Orang Gila.

Well anyway I was in front of a drink freezer at the downstairs MAMA shop when I saw a can of Orangina among the Coca-Cola and Pepsi. (btw its pronounced "O-ron'-zhjeh-nuh" according to Wikipedia) This French drink has a way of burning ur throat yet quenching it at the same time. For those, (like me) who has always wondered what the word "bitter-sweet" meant, go drink this drink. I assure you that you will get immediate enlightenment.

Meanwhile enjoy this trip down memory lane (I hate using this phrase..makes me feel old) with Orangina Virtual Museum.

BREAK..BROKE...BROKEN

It must be a conspiracy. Ever since the beginning of this month, my mailbox (both virtual and real)have been flooded by private invitations and announcements of sale everywhere. I dunno where in high heavens they got my contact numbers. Must the work of the credit cards people sharing their database of clients.

To say the sales are tempting doesn't even begin to describe it. I salivate at the thought of being the first to see the new range of a designer shoe. And the thought of all those discount is making me wanna sprint at the first chance. But a 40% off a $3000/- shoe is a good discount but still not exactly the kind of money I can splurge in one sitting. (especially since The Don won't go with me to these events)

But we did splurge this month. After months and months of searching... we finally found our sofa. Finally as my best friend M put it...."Bontot tak akan leper lagi"
We went to every place with sofa we can think of, Cellini, Arbitex, Lorenzo, Melandas, Casa Italy, Castilla, Mondi, OM, Lifestorey etc etc We even throng the whole of Great World City, Park Mall and IMM. Finally ...finally we found what we wanted....

Money No Have

The Lancerlot being given his daily bath.

The following conversation (if it can be called one,) transpired between The Don and the bangla who washes our Lancerlot daily at the car park last night.

Bangla: Sir, money no have?
The Don: I will pay at the end of the month. ok?
Bangla: Sir, money no have?
The Don: Money? what money? Today is only the 11th. I will pay you at the end of the month. 30th (walks away)
Bangla: Sir.... Money no have ?
The Don: (walks back) No no I will not pay you in advance. If I pay you now, one day you wash my car, one day you won't wash. At the end of the month ok?
Bangla: Money no have ?
The Don: (losing his patience) When you work at construction site, the boss pay you when? After you do work or before you do work? You wash first. On the 30th I will pay you.
Bangla: Sir.... money no have?
The Don: (walks away irritated)
Bangla: Sir... ok ok. End of month ok.

Twitch, Twitch

My left eye has been twitching since morning. It damn irritating. I have tried everything from prying my eyes open with my fingers to prevent them from twitching to shutting my eyes tight for a few mins but to no avail. Constant rubbing has made my vision blur. UUrrgh!!! It old wives' tale that if its your right eye is twitching you're gonna see someone you havn't seen in a long time but if it's ur left eye, you're going to cry soon.

Let's see if they are right.......

Meanwhile .... (twitch...twitch.... twitch....)

Bravo Bruno

I had a nice surprise today. The above postcard came in the mail for me today. An exclusive invitation for Bruno Magli's exclusive preview of their spring/summer 2005 collection with 10% discount and consecutively, sale of their last season shoes with discount of 30% - 60%. I'm drooling already.

Bruno Magli shoes are yummylicious but the prices can cause my Don to have a heart seizure hehehee. But since I got the invititation, I'm not about to give it up so easily. Such an exclusive event surely warrants my presence hehehhee. And I'm gonna bring along my shopping buddy M. Its always great to have a first look before it hit the shelves.

Moms' Day Out

Ummi
Haddad Alwi & Sulis


Ummi yaa lahnan a'syaqohu,
wanasyidan dauman ansyuduhu
Fikulli makanin adzkuruhu,
wa-azhollu azhollu uroddiduhu

Ummi..ummi...ummi...ummi...

Ummi yaa ruuhi wa-hayati,
yaa bahjata nafsi wamunaati
Unsi filhadhiri wal-ati 2x

Allohu ta'aala aushoni,
fissirri walau fil i'laani
Bilbirri laki wal-ihsaani 2x


Ismuki manquusyun fi qolbi
Hubbuki yahdini fi darbi
wadu'a-i yahfazhuki robbiy 2x
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ummi, lagu yang paling kugemari
irama yang selalu kudendangkan
dimana saja, kapan saja, aku mengingatnya
selalu dan selalu aku nyanyikan

Ummi..ummi...ummi...ummi...

Ummi, jiwa dan hidupku
pemberi kebahagiaan dan harapan
sekarang, juga dimasa mendatang
Allah memerintahkan padaku
dalam kusendiri atau terbuka
bersikap membahagiakan, berlaku sopan dan kasih sayang

Namamu wahai Ummi terpahat dihatiku
cintaku padamu membawaku ke jalan yang benar
dan do'aku selalu, semoga Allah senantiasa menjagamu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Our mother's day celebration was at Sofra Turkish Restaurant. As usual, we brought both our mom's out. The food was fantastique though the service was a tad slow. We surprised them with a huge bouquet of flowers each. And you know, nothing beats the expression on our mothers' faces when we presented them with the bouquet. Priceless!!! I guess its just the way women are with flowers. We just LUURRVEE them, no doubt about it!!!


Happy Mother's Day !!!!

Mythical Kingdom Of Heaven

I stepped out of the fully-packed cinema last night feeling satisfied and relieved that "Kingdom of Heaven", Ridley Scott's latest work, is nothing like most other movies made by Hollywood with Middle-Eastern characters. It was a fantastic movie, with elaborate costumes, breath-taking cinematography, realistic battle scenes and a true (or at least, as close as can be) depiction of what transpired during the Crusades.

I suppose Sir Ridley Scott who was knighted in Dec 2002 live by the very same oath his character Balian (played by the very un-macho Orlando Bloom) took when he was knighted.
Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Speak the truth, always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath......

I especially like Scott's portrayal of Saladin (Salah Ad-din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub), a great Muslim warrior and King of Egypt at that time. His benevolence and integrity is succintly portrayed by Ghassan Massoud, himself a great Syrian actor/director. Scott even slot in the part where Saladin apparently offered his physicians to Kind Baldwin IV to cure his leprosy, when in fact the offer was made by Saladin to Richard Lionheart in the next Crusade war. And Saladin's offer of ice to Guy de Lusignian was actually another bit of history when Saladin gave snow from the mountains to Richard the Lionheart to "cool his blood". Such extensive research and the courage to not hide away from showcasing the honor of a Muslim historical figure in such trying times of post 9/11 tragedy, must surely be creditied, if not rewarded. Saladin is indeed a great warrior and leader, who closely abided by the teachings of Islam and did exactly as what our prophet Nabi Muhammad (P.B.U.H)did upon re-entering the holy city of Makkah. To read more on Saladin GO HERE

Some reviews of the movie mentioned of a weak script, languid acting and unwise casting of main roles but to me, it was great movie all the same. If nothing else, it is a spearhead to more unbiased portrayals of Muslim characters, fictional or otherwise. And an awareness to history and hopefully, greater understanding and respect between the religions. And also, perhaps, finally, (although quite improbable as the fued has been going on for a millenium now) a true Kingdom of Heaven.

So whether you are an Orlando Bloom fan, (oops no brickbats 4 calling him unmacho pls!) liked previous works by Ridley Scott and want to see his work again, or just the type who must see every new movie in town, or perhaps one who has decided not to go because you dun like epics and failed History in school, or you happen to think you dun like movies with violence and war, I suggest you go see it anyway. If not at the theaters, then a bootleg copy perhaps but DO watch it. I promise you will leave enlightened and fully satisfied.

NB: Ridley Scott stretched history a bit to create dramatization and to create a human element. The Balian in the movie is a heavily fictionalised one although an actual Balian of Ibelin existed and was a major figure in the Crusades. To find out what exactly happened to the actual Balian of Ibelin during the Crusades, CLICK HERE Anyone interested to find out more about the Crusades, Email me and I'll point you to the relevant resources.

Mother’s Day from an Islamic Perspective

THIS ENTRY IS QUOTED FROM ISLAM ONLINE

First of all, it goes without saying that every committed Muslim is supposed to pay his parents, especially his mother, due respect. One should try to show dutifulness to one’s parents, even if they happened to be non-Muslims, let alone being Muslims. What Islam goes against is to imitate non-Muslims by marking a special occasion such as celebrating the Mother’s Day in a way that shows that mothers do not deserve due respect and care save on this very day. If we are going to make the whole year a Mother’s Day, then Islam welcomes celebrating the occasion with open arms.

Indeed, Muslim scholars have maintained various opinions regarding the issue. Here below we will attempt to furnish you with Juristic views as regard this issue:

First of all, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, deputy chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, states:
"Dutifulness to parents, especially the mother, and treating them kindly is an act of worship enjoined in both the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Being dutiful to parents is not confined to a specific time. It is an obligation that should be observed every time, as all people commonly know."

Yet, the Mother’s Day, as it’s known nowadays is a Western habit. The Westerners specified a day and called it the Mother’s Day. On that day sons and daughters show gratefulness to their mothers and offer them presents. It has become part of important feasts in the West, whereas we Muslims have no other festivals except the Lesser and the Greater Bairams. Any other celebrations are deemed mere occasions or anniversaries; and this is applied to the Mother’s Day.

The Mother’s Day implies paying more attention and exerting more effort in expressing gratitude to mothers. So there is nothing wrong in that.

However, there are two reservations worth mentioning; first, considering the Mother’s Day a feast; second, confining the task of showing dutifulness to mothers to that specific day, giving implication that throughout the whole year, just only one day is for showing love to parents. If such two anomalous points are addressed, then there is nothing wrong in considering the Mother’s Day a chance to give more care to mothers.

Thus, we may take the Mother’s Day as a chance to lay more emphasis on our duty towards our mothers, as Islam enjoins us, because dutifulness to parents is a genuine Islamic teaching. But Muslims, in doing that, should never deviate from the Islamic teachings, they should do things in Islamic manners, not in Western manners. Hence, they would not be imitating the non-Islamic habits of the West.

Hence, viewed in juristic perspective, we can say that celebrating the Mother’s day is controversial among the contemporary scholars. While a group of them consider it haram (unlawful) as a kind of blind imitation of the Western non-Islamic habits, which have no benefit for Muslims, another group see it halal (lawful) on condition that showing gratitude and dutifulness to parents should not be confined to that day only.
READ MORE HERE

What??No Indians??

We need security guards but Indians need not apply.

My eyes nearly popped out when I read the byline in ST. A quick scan of the article showed that indeed this was in Singapore. Instantly words like "meritocracy", "regardless of race", and "equal opportunity" came to mind but this time with huge questions marks.

I think the authorities better do something fast to prevent such practices from taking root here. Not too long ago we had the fiasco of job adverts in newspapers using words such as "Only Chinese need apply" or "Chinese Female only". That was later put to rest when the authorities required the companies to cease using such terms and use terms such as "Mandarin speaking" if indeed they required one who can conversed in Mandarin. It will be interesting to see how they will handle this one.

A FEW GOOD MEN

We came back last night from Kuantan, after getting news on Monday night that my granduncle, Syed Mahadzar Bin Syed Ahmad Al-Hinduan, (affectionately known as Tok Bah) is very ill. Tok Bah eventually passed away that night at 1.27am in the hospital. He is actually my grandmother's cousin so that makes him a really distant relative but he is such a warm and friendly man that we all feel that he is almost like our grandfather. He is such a knowledgable man and one who keeps up with technology. He is 69 but is fully adept at computers. He is even proficient in Adobe Photoshop, much to our shock. Having retired since 10 years ago, he spends his time now compiling religious doas and ratibs into books for circulation among family members and other Al-alawiyyin. He also charts our salasilah (family tree) and takes the time and effort (not to mention the cost of printing) to make customised salasilah for every male member of the family lining our linkage from Nabi Muhammad s.a.w directly.

Above all else, he is a man who practises humility and takes the initiative to find and erect closer ties with family. He is often reffered to as "Penghubung keluarga" as travels far and wide to find other branches of the family elsewhere in the region. His passing is truly a great loss to everyone in the family. As expected, there was a huge turnout at his funeral. There were sooo many people there was hardly space to sit in the house (despite the house being humongous. People stood by the lawn amid the scorching sun just to pay their last respects to him. The cars parked stretched out a good km away from the house. There were even traffic police escorts all the way to the place of burial. All this for a simple man, with no rank or stature. I guess what they say is true. Only at one's funeral will you know how noble a life he has lived. Just like the funeral of Singapore's ex-President Wee Kim Wee, who passed away on the same day.