Category Archives: Life

Pink Floyd former guitarist RIP

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(1965)

Former guitarist and founder of Pink Floyd band, who have surely influenced bunch if not thousands of chinese bands in malaysia, Syd Barrett (not David Gilmour la). Died in his home in Oxford. He was 60.

(1966 ?)

He formed the band with Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason in 1965, before he left the band and the current legendary David Gilmour took over after 3 years.


(later years)

RIP Sir Syd Barrett.

Malaysia Boleh Again… Wooo…

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i wonder when can the stories stop, hmm. guess never.

I still remember when my pouch was stolen back in 2003 infront of my house at about 5.30pm, by a chxx bxe xaxxx boy, i called the police when the boy shundnt have gone far yet, the police said wil come investigate (well, i would say it was useless also if they would have came, bcos my house area is kampung area, many atap chu and lorong lorong, i guess the boy could just go and hide inside one of the houses)

anyway, the story is: the police came to my house to take photos at about 9.45pm, where the boy had surely boarded a plane to hell and meet his idol Mr Satan.

Here's another Malaysia Boleh story for you, fresh from the oven:

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2006-07-13&sec=malaysia&art=0713mnw31.txt

Happy Bird Day to Ric

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For all those who duno Ric, can u guess which is him?
In the picture, Uglymen, photoed with SLAP!, Ric, and Teik Hong.
(click to view giant size photo)

i have a good friend, he must be one of the most birdiest friend i got, got to know him as my student, and into a friend, and later business partner, he is Ric Tan, but he likes to call himself what… Ric Ritianny Chow or something, and claimed he comes from Norway…. kekekeke….

today is his big day. so hereby wish him have a BIG BIRD DAY…..

HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU,
MANY CONDOMS FOR YOU,
USE THEM WHEN YOU WANT TO,
HAPPY BIRD DAY TO YOU

30th June 1993, The Day Chinese Music Scene Changed Forever ~ Today is Wong Ka Kui RIP 13th Anniversary 黄家驹逝世十三周年

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Ka Keung, on right, at Jiang Jun Au Cemetary with family members on 30th June 2006, 3.50pm, the time when Ka Kui left us.

On that fateful day, one of Asia’s most gifted musician went away silently. He was Wong Ka Kui. 7 days before this date, He fell from a shooting set on a stage in Japan filming a game show, 3 metres to the groud, head first.

Time fliew and today is the 13th year he had left us. There are so many tributes to Ka Kui written in Chinese on the internet, newspaper, books, magazine, and i think, this time round i should write about him in English for everyone to read.

Ka Kui, or known as “hak zhai” 黑仔(dark skin) among his friends, was born to an average family. He was very active in school but did not do very well in acedemic. After schooling, he did not pursue any further education and started working. He worked few jobs a day and changed many jobs, still he could not satisfy with what he was doing.

P/S: Ka Kui was once heavily criticised by a lead man in a band, telling him he was a very bad guitar player and he would never succeed in playing in a band. This fired up Ka Kui!

Until he fell in love with music, his favourite artiste was David Bowie. Back then, Ka Kui wasnt playing in band. But by chance, he was introduced to a guy Yip Sai Wing in a music store in 1983, and soon, he found out both of them enjoyed same genre of music and played same style. Later in that year, both of them wanted to join a band competition and roped in two more members to form a band (no, not Ka Keung and Paul). Not many people know that the band name BEYOND was actually named by a non-member (present). The then guitarist Ah Tang é‚“, named the band as BEYOND in order to join the competition. And, they won the competition!


Debut album: 再见理想 (Farewell To Our Dreams)

Later in 1985, Ka Kui’s younger brother, Ka Keong, joined the band as the bassist in order to hold their very first personal concert. Unfortunately, the then guitarist Chan Sai On 陈世安had to leave Beyond for further studies, so a desginer called Paul Wong joined the band. That’s the final line-up that we familiar with. In between those few years, another guitarist / keyboardist Lau Zhi Yin 刘致远 joined, and later left the band, also for educational reason.


秘密警察 (Secret Police)

After 3 previous albums (永远等待 Waiting Forever / 亚拉伯跳舞女朗读 Arabian Dancing Girl / 现代舞台 Modern Stage), Beyond made its break-through in 1988,  with Ka Kui’s superb song compositions and his unique voice, winning a platinum award for the album “Secret Police” with hit songs such as 大地 Da Di, 喜欢你 Xi Huan Ni in the album. BEYOND also held their first concert in mainland China in Beijing.


BEYOND IV

With Ka Kui’s guidance and extremely unique musical ideas, Beyond went on to become the most famous band in Asia for the next few years, with their trademark song 真的爱你 Zhen De Ai Ni hitting top in music charts of almost every chinese radio stations. The album BEYOND IV, which consists Zhen De Ai Ni, 逝去日子 Shi Qu Ri Zi, won double platinum award!


FIlm Scoring by Beyond: 午夜迷墙 (Midnight Rumble)


Original Soundtrack: 天若有情 (the famous Fooi Sek Kuai Zhek)

BEYOND started to soar higher and higher, the following year, 4 of them took part in filming including movies such as 吉星鸿照 Ji Xing Hong Zhao, 开心鬼 Happy Ghost, and TV series 淘气双子星 Tao Qu Shuang Zi Xing. BEYOND also did film-scoring for the Andy Lau classisc Tian Ruo You Qing, Wu Yue Mi Qiang and at the same time, held their first concert in Hong Kong Collesium. BEYOND also contributed their voice in the dubbing of Ninja Turtle 1 and 2.


Another milestone, BEST LYRICIST and BEST SONG : 光辉岁月 GUANG HUI SUI YUE

More hits from Ka Kui emerging non-stop… 岁月无声 Sui Yue Wu Sheng, 交织千个心 Jiao Zhi Qian Ge Xin (tribute to Sam Hui), 光辉岁月 Guang Hui Shui Yue (Ka Kui won BEST LYRICIST in Hong Kong most prestigous music award for this song, dedicated to Nelson Mendela), 战胜心魔 Zhan Sheng Xin Mo, 灰色轨迹 Hui Se Gui Ji.


Peace for All ~ AMANI


Photo taken in Africa

The BEYOND fever then got even hotter when one of their most successful album DELIBERATE went to the street. A truely unique song using African language to promote peace, anti-war message to the world, called AMANI. BEYOND went to Africa and wrote this song. In this album, other BEYOND classics were also born, 不再犹疑 Bu Zhai You Yi, 我早应该习惯 Wo Zhao Yin Gai Xi Guan, 系要听 Rock & Roll (Xi Yao Ting Rock & Roll), 高温派对 Gao Wen Pai Dui.


The Great Wall ~ with Kitaro

After spreading their music to most part of South East Asia, the time had come to flex their muscles in Japan. Beyond flew to Japan and made the next album collaborating with world famous composer Kitaro on 长城 Chang Cheng and Kunihiko Ryo. Chang Cheng again landed another award for the band.

BEYOND gained more popularity and toured Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia in those years


The BEST of all BEYOND’s album: BEYOND 乐与怒 Le Yu Nu

If you think Beyond had reached its peak, then you are just truely very very wrong, because, the next album Le Yu Nu (cheer and anger) came out in 1993 and the hit song 海阔天空 Hai Kuo Tian Kong conquered almost all Karaoke outlets. Every amature bands started to mimic Beyond, play and perform their songs. Almost all the songs in this album are my all-time favourites: 我是愤怒 Wo Shi Fen Nu, 爸爸妈妈 Ba Ba Ma Ma, 命运是你家 Ming Yun Shi Ni Jia, 走不开的快乐 Zou Bu Kai De Kuai Le, 海阔天空 Hai Kuo Tian Kong, 情人 Qing Ren. And yes, they were all wrote by Ka Kui. Just tell me, which chinese lad playing in a band today never play these superb BEYOND classics before? Beyond also held a FREE UNPLUGGED concert in Malaysia to promote the latest album in May 1993. Before ending the show, Ka Kui said to the crowd: “Happy times flew past really fast, and we will meet again in the coming years” “快活不知时日过… 明年再见”

Then, just about one month after the concert ….


Moments before the tragedy. Ka Kui, in centre of photo raising right hand.
Tragedy struck.. 
The filming accident.

For all Uglymen.net Chinese readers, you can log on to www.beyondmusic.net, click the left menu of 纪念黄家驹 (remembering Wong Ka Kui), every detial about the tragedy is noted there.

And for English readers, i also found out this very detail website about the tragedy, including photos http://home4u.hongkong.com/entertainment/stars/davidip/accident.htm
All die-hard true BEYOND fans must read, very touching!

Under Ka Kui’s leadership, BEYOND released moer than 20 albums and EPs which include countless chart toppers up til 1993.


Rest In Peace in Jiang Jun Ao, HK

We will remember you forever, Ka Kui, thank you for the music, thank you for making me know what music really is, and may the spirit of BEYOND lives forever!

Ka Kui: Hong Kong only has entertainment scene, not music circle!

香港只有娱乐圈,没有乐坛!

My Experience With the Telcos (Part I)

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This is the longest post in uglymen.net so far, take your time, make a cup of coffee if u want, and sit back and read slowly, u wil enjoy it, promised :-)  

So, every one seem so quiet here, guess i have to carry my heavy ass and sit infront of my cheap Acer laptop to post some crappies again. By the way, Sprite has not responded here for some time and her email box is stuffed as i kept getting delivery failures. Are you ok sprite? hello? knock knock? Hooi, is sprite ok?? any body there???

damn it, it hurts as i type on the even most delicate soft keyboard, as there are some pockies grew exactly on my finger tips.

Ok, get in topic now, as most of you know, at present, we have 5 major Telcos in Malaysia, Maxis(012), TM Touch(013), Digi(014, 016), TimeNet(017), Celcom(019), where Maxis has bought up TimeNet, and TM Touch and Celcom has some secretive connections, and Digi? yes, the one i am using is Digi.

For your information, not too long ago, there were 010 (Celcom old code), 011 (Atur), 018 (Mobikom)

My first line was way back in 1996 where i used 017 474 2468, and later 017 591 5555, and and later 017 475 6475. Wonder why i always use 017 and changed numbers so often? What? bcos i lost my phones? ok, ok, that is part of it, but the main reason was: last time 017 was known as ADAM, and managed by a wonderful but lack of business sense directors. There was once SMS(s) were free on 017, and i bet my k-bro Paul Ooi sure remembers that time as we SMS for over 500? wat? 800 sms monthly, until my fingers sore… (For your information, when SMS first started out in Malaysia, Maxis was charging the first 10 sms monthly for free, THEN! all additional sms are RM1.00 each!)

And, in addition, ADAM often gives special offers like 0 monthly fee, 0 monthly fee for sub-lines…. you would have been knocking your head on the wall if you were not subscribing ADAM. AH!! and one more very good reason to use ADAM, i guess not many will remember this, as you have to queue your life to pay bills at Celcom, Maxis…. it was a “drive thru” at ADAM, so few customers every time….wahahaha….

All went well for ADAM until i started studying in Penang and laid my hands on the Nokia9110, the phone was retialing at about RM2999 but with a new line subscribed to Maxis, you will get about RM300 rebate!, wow, so, bye bye ADAM. By the way, at that time, ADAM was facing bankruptcy liao and the line is oways “no-line”… hahaha… and few years later, Maxis has bought over it…

So, i have my new number as 012 431 9110, i am still using it now, opps, dont try to stalk or spam me, but all jokes, dirty messages are welcomed ;-) … anyway, that is not my primary number now.

Since using that Nokia9110, i have started to contact customer service so often like sometimes i forgot i thought i was talking to my friend when i called the help line. Why? Cos I love to explore all services offered, from the now-out-dated WAP to GPRS to EDGE to Mobile TV to 3G…. So, here's how i started my little sentimental experience with diffrent telcos and i have beautiful tales to tell you…

My mom uses Celcom (019), and my friend af fatt used to have Tm Touch (013), and now I have Digi (016), and have used TM Touch (013), Mobifon (018) on the road til today… so, more or less i had brushed shoulders with all of them.

Since I have crossswords with them so many times, i only note down the “memorable” ones here:

 

MAXIS (012):
This is the telco that i always call for help and understand more about their products. I have an extra ordinary connection with the Alor Setar branch and even assisted them in a project for them to be selected as the some what “Best Branch Outlet Award” or something back in 2005. I use credit-card auto payment since day one with Maxis so i never went to the outlet to pay, but sometimes my credit card runs out on limit (ooppps… shudnt say it here), then i have to pay there. The queue wasnt too long (2005), and it was quite a pleasant wait as i browse through newspaper reading how Janet Jackson promoted her nipple hardware in a super bowl game. And yeah, the CSO (Customer Service Officers) were friendly, knowledgable, and most importantly, speak fluent like the drain English.

Bottom line~
Face to face service: Execellent
Helpline serivice: Excellent
Product: Excellent
Worth: Ok lo, but some services are too expensive like unlimited GPRS download…

 

TM TOUCH (013):
……………… wait…………………………. wait……………………………….still waiting……………………………………………….. ……………..nothing….. wait……………………………………… still waiting………………………………………… (getting mad)………………………………….. (hung up)…….

Repeat the above procedure 5 times, and FINALLY the help line got through.
I was helping my friend ah fatt to ask something about his phone bill, as he was not fluent in both bahasa and English, i called the help line using his cell phone. OK, finally there was some one answering my call, indicating the help line was real and not a fake in fact. Due to the fact that i have accumulated the total amount of ammunition enough to clear Hiroshima island, here's the conversation (roughly remembered)~ 

Me: Hello
CSO: hello, selamat petang.
Me: (Wat the fuxk, i pressed ENGLISH! E-N-G-L-I-S-H)
Me: Saya nak tanya you sangat sibuk ke sekarang atau you punya boss tak cukup duit untuk upah CSO?
CSO: (giggling…) eh… eh…
[ah fatt was laughing silently beside me]
CSO: Ya kah? (still smiling tone) Apa yang boleh say bantu…
Me: (told him the problem, wasted more than 15 minutes, and the problem never got solved)…

I have another friend Ah Thye, he was also using a 013 back in the late 90s and asked me to accompany him to the TM TOUCH office to solve some problem, the queue was longer than the high-way queue during Chinese New Year holiday, and i am prohibited from using the words that i wanted to use to describe the quality of service.

Bottom line~
Face to face service: better dont waste your time
Helpline serivice: huh? 013 got help line???
Product: product? what product?
Worth: You rather save your money and buy the Indonesian non-nude version Playboy magazine

DIGI (016):

Since Digi is my primary line, i will have loads of stories to tell you. Here are some interesting ones:
When i registered my DIGI number in 2005 February, I befriended the whole DIGI special outlet staff in Alor Setar, mind you there is no DIGI service centre in Alor Setar (til now), and told them my band was releasing a CD soon, well, since i am so sociable, so handsome, so cute, so charming, so adorable, EVERY staff at the outlet bought a CD from me. (P/S: total number of staff: two)

Meanwhile, here's another story. Early last year, DIGI introduced Caller Ringtones in Malaysia, and I actually called up the help line, and wanted to clarify whether can I put UGLYMEN's song as the Caller Ringtones, obviously it cant, but since calling helpline is free, what the heck….

Me: I would like to ask about the caller ringtone service
CSO: ya ya.. started to blah blah blah….
Me: Ya, i have registered it, and I started to use it…. what i wanted to know is…
CSO: ya ya… go to wwww.digi.com.my, log in…. bla blah
Me: No no, i mean my song…
CSO: ya, your favourite songs, you can choose from diffrent categories…
Me: No no, i mean my song, the song that i sing, like now i sing to you, and recorded down, and put as caller ringtones.
CSO: eh… I'm sorry Mr Lee, we dont have that service at the moment but….. blah blah

Well, at least i got my answer, and the experience was not bad though i think, just thinking, the CSO who answered my call must be a new comer or some one trying hard to impress his superior on his working performance. For your information, almost every time after i call helpline, no matter is which telco, there will be an sms or a phone call to you, asking you to rank the “satisfactory level” of the customer service quality. Maxis and Digi always get my 4 or 5 (a level of 1 to 5,  1 being the least satisfactory) Wat? u mean how do i rate TM TOUCH? I coudn't rate la, i wanted to give negative -5, but the system only accept 1 to 5.

Another story. I also had BAD experience with DIGI. My sister also uses DIGI, but she uses prepaid, i am lazy to talk about the details, briefly like this:
My sister topped up RM100 1 week before her birthday (if u registered your prepaid SIM with DIGI, u will get kindof brithday reward or something), and was promised to get about 30 or 50% of the amount topped up. After 5 days, still nothing happen (no reward), so i called my friend (the DIGI special outlet staff @ UGLYMEN CD supporter), he told me this must refer to DIGI Customer Service Centre, and the nearest is in PENANG!
After a few helplines called being made to no avail, i went to PENANG with my sis. ( dont get me wrong, i did not go to Penang intentionally on that purpose, i drove to Penang every week)
At the DIGI centre, there was this confusing pragnant lady (i suppose is the head of CSO) who talked chicken with us while we were talking duck. She was rude and made me think is she some kind of sadist because she is under tremendous pressure to deliver, or worried over her upcoming milk powder bills, children education… come on, put that a side, she was way too too rude. So, simple, (my sis was very agitated, she is big size, she can fight too, but the calm Michael Lee stopped her) instead, i pulled my sis and off we went.
At home, i serached on www.digi.com.my, and found a link “Contact Us”. ah huh!, and wrote a letter to the HQ, well, needless to say, my sis got her rewards, and a representative called up my sis to apologize on behalf of that bitch.

Bottom line~
Face to face service: some time works, some time wont
Helpline serivice: good, keep calling, its free, check my bills, payment, limits, services….
Product: why on earth did DIGI fail to obtain the 3G licence, i think only the Malaysian government can explain this!!
Worth: Go for it.

ADAM / TimeCel / TimeNet (017):
As mentioned as above, used to be using ADAM, but no more, now became TimeNet.

Bottom line (ADAM, not now)~
Face to face service: Super Excellent
Helpline serivice: Never Call, bcos i called the branch CSO directly, who are my good friends (Kim and Ooi), heard they got married, wonder where they are now…
Product: Too good to be true
Worth: (Was) number one phone line in malaysia, so many things free, that's why now already gone!

Mobifon (018):
Well, not much to tell on this one as i only used it for about 1 month. All I can say is last time the cell phones are manufactured for two diffrent frequencies, we have the PCN network and GSM network, where 012,019 are GSM, and 013, 016, 017, 018 are PCN. For example, if you buy a Nokia 5130 (which is PCN), you can not use it on Maxis, or Celcom and vice versa. Nowadays all cell phones are “unlocked” and can be used on both networks.

I switched to Mobifon for just a month to try out the network, and since i was using a PCN phone (ADAM 017), i would have to try out 018, because i would have been the most most most stupidest to try out TM TOUCH (also PCN)

This post seemd too long now, i will spare Celcom the spanking for now, but i will return with PART II of this post

Hint: CELCOM was the WORST experience i had so far!! Look out for the post soon.

Respect Your Maid

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Forgive my grammatical errors, i am very tired and no strength, a record 23rd time just before i post this.
Refer to http://blog.michael-one.com for reason

Nowadays, many families employ Indonesian maid to handle various chores and work, some at home, some employed to work at factories, or small working places. And at my home, it is the 4th or 5th year running being employing an indonesian maid.

Normally we read about this maid ran away from home, that maid stole money, this one put “kong tao” into soup, that one abuse the boss' baby son. But seldom got anyone think behalf on the maid's side…

First of all, do you think maids like to travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to malaysia to work just to put “kong tao” in your soup? or they dont have choice but to work here? We all know 90% if not 100% of them are uneducated or received minimum education. I think out of so many families who employ maids, one of the most well-treated maid must be Ong Tai Suan's Ah Su. Suan treats her very good, to what extent we dont know (insert wink here). We often listen or see in TV bosses, esspecially lady boss scold their maids stupid, eat shit, no use, go to die…..

Why not you stand on their side and think for a few minutes, travelling so far to work has been under tremendous pressuere, leaving behind poor-sticken families, some even with their own sons or daughters. Once they start to work, they have to:

1) Remember all the faces, names, people of the family
2) Remember where to put each working utensils
3) Remember what time to feed which baby with what BRAND of milk powder
4) Remember which shirt or blouse belongs to which family members and where they keep their respective clothes, PLUS, for those very “im-chim”, where to hang or put their favourite colours or styles.
5) Remember what day kids got school, what to prepard for breakfast, what to prepare for the old grandma her lunch and must be always alert to check if old grandpa's dypers is wet
6) Remember what time the boss comes home so she can open the gate and avoid the boss mindlessly honking at the door while the maid is feeding milk to the baby
7) Remember which clothes cannot mix with which clothes so that the colour wont “mix” on other one, to avoid salary being cut
8) Remember how to spell every family member's names so that she knows how to distribute each letter received to whoever's room
9) Remember what time to wake the younger boss up in time for tuition.
10) Remember to wash the porch, sweep the floor with correct procedure, use what “VIM” or the correct soap powder for cleaning which portion of the floor, for example use “VIM” for car park, use “Mr Cleano” for the mosaic…

11) If only 0.0001% of the above not met, then she wil be scolded: “Si Iau Siu!!, Chiak Sai!, Kao Sai!”

then the maid has no choice but to hide her face and cry silentlyly, and if her boss knew she was crying, she kena double scold then, maybe extra work and not enough sleep.

Treat your maid like your family, not like your DOG, sometimes, some families treat their maids worse than DOG.

sigh….

how to control/reduce your high blood pressure and sugar level

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my sister became health concious recently and she has been studying a lot of “healthy” food that we can consume daily. if you guys and girls are into cooking, u’ll usually add salt and sugar to your cooking. well, we all know that salty food is the MAIN cause of high blood pressure and sugar (normal supermarket/hypermarket) is one of the main causes of diabettes. i’m not a health freak but i do try to avoid salty and sweet food. if u still must have salt and sugar in your food without compromising the taste of it, u can take:
- celtic sea salt. unprocessed sea salt that is low in sodium. it has only natural sea salt and is not processed like normal salt. it’s far more expensive than normal salt; a small bottle of celtic sea salt which can last for a few months cost about a regular size starbuck caramel coffee with whipped cream
- (organic) brown sugar. it is not processed. but dont get it in supermark/hypermarket. if you are REALLY concerned with your health, u SHOULD consider consuming your food using brown sugar. the cost is higher (of course) but the benefit is probably a few years added to your life.

anyway, if you are wondering where to get those above, try an organic food store. we consume SALT and SUGAR everyday. these two unique added “taste” will surely improve your well being. i dont know much about healthy food or how to stay tip top condition, i just know that we consume these two “additives” everyday and if we can spend some money on those two replacement salt & sugar, it’s an investment to our health.

usually, organic store is available inside hypermarts or large hospitals.