Friday, July 04, 2008

Warisan - Anak Kecil Main Api

Anak kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Air mata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang

Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat sengketa sesamalah kita
Cinta lenyap diarus zaman

Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ketangan yang lain
Peribumi merintih sendiri

Masa depan sungguh kelam
Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam
Tertutuplah hati terkunci mati
Maruah peribadi dah hilang

Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
Yang akan menentukan bangsa
Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti
Pulih kembali harga diri

Kita sudah tiada masa
Majulah dengan maha perkasa
Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha
Melayukan gagah dinusantara

Perjuangan yang belum selesai

Perjuangan Yang Belum Selesai - Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

Sesungguhnya tidak ada yang lebih menyayatkan
dari melihat bangsaku dijajah
Tidak ada yang lebih menyedihkan
dari membiarkan bangsaku dihina

Air mata tiada ertinya
sejarah silam tiada maknanya
sekiranya bangsa tercinta terpinggir
dipersenda dan dilupakan


Bukan kecil langkah wira bangsa
para pejuang kemerdekaan
bagi menegakkan kemuliaan
dan darjat bangsa
selangkah bererti mara
mengharung sejuta dugaan

Biarkan bertatih
asalkan langkah itu yakin dan cermat
bagi memastikan negara
merdeka dan bangsa terpelihara
air mata sengsara
mengiringi setiap langkah bapa-bapa kita

Tugas kita bukan kecil
kerana mengisi kemrdekaan
rupanya lebih sukar dari bermandi
keringat dan darah menuntutnya

"Lagi pula apalah ertinya kemerdekaan
kalau bangsaku asyik mengia dan menidakkan,
mengangguk dan membenarkan,
kerana sekalipun bangganya negara
kerana makmur dan mewahnya,
bangsaku masih melata
dan meminta-minta di negaranya sendiri"

Bukan kecil tugas kita
meneruskan perjuangan kemerdekaan kita
kerana rupanya selain memerdekakan,
mengisi kemerdekaan itu jauh lebih sengsara

Bangsaku bukan kecil hati dan jiwanya
bukankah sejak zaman berzaman
mereka menjadi pelaut, pengembara
malah penakluk terkemuka?
Bukankah mereka sudah mengembangkan sayap,
menjadi pedagang dan peniaga

selain menjadi ulama dan
ilmuan terbilang?
Bukankah bangsaku pernah mengharung
samudera menjajah dunia yang tak dikenal
Bukankah mereka pernah menjadi
wira serantau yang tidak mengenal
erti takut dan kematian?
Di manakah silapnya hingga bangsaku
berasa begitu kecil dan rendah diri?
Apakah angkara penjajah?
Lalu bangsaku mulai
melupakan kegemilangan silam
dan sejarah gemilang membina empayar

Tugas kita belum selesai rupanya
bagi memartabat dan
memuliakan bangsa
kerana hanya bangsa yang berjaya
akan sentiasa dihormati

Rupanya masih jauh dan berliku jalan kita
bukan sekadar memerdeka dan mengisinya
tetapi mengangkat darjat dan kemuliaan
buat selama-lamanya

Hari ini, jalan ini pasti semakin berliku
kerana masa depan belum tentu
menjanjikan syurga
bagi mereka yang lemah dan mudah kecewa

Perjuangan kita belum selesai
kerana hanya yang cekal dan tabah
dapat membina mercu tanda
bangsanya yang berjaya

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Mei 1996

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Beauty and The Beast - The Broadway Musical

With much anticipation, little expectation, and we get..satisfaction and excitement..with this show.





I bought the tickets online to this show, about 1 month earlier. Well, my brother's a CIMB click user, so he gets to have 15% off on the tickers price. Memang berkat being 'wasatiah', instead of being the typical me, an almost-high-end user (ahem) spending on the RM250-RM350 tickets, i opted for the RM150 tickets, and it turned out to be perfect..hehehehe...

With 15% off, we paid RM127.50. I've never been to a concert before, and I have always thought of going to shows with seated audience..height (ahem), harassments, theft (pickpockets) to me are issues in a typical standing audience concert.

The seating arrangement for the RM150, EEE63, 64, to me is the perfect spot.
It's a tiered seating, and we were at the 2nd tier, tho not much higher than the first tier. We get a clear view of the stage and the actors, we get to see clear synchronization of the backdrop change, the dances and the moves as well as the live orchestrated music under the stage. It was such an awesome experience. We thoroughly enjoyed the show. I would surely get this same seating next year. How else can I measure the perfection other than our satisfaction after the show, am i right?

The show tries to potray as much appearance and acts as from the cartoon version of the movie. We know that there is not too much animation in the cartoon version. No emphasis on talking animals or clumsy jokes. I guess that explains the type of audience in the show. There were couples, if not small groups of girlfriends in their 20s, not many kids turn up as it is a night-show and expected to end nearly midnight. And to our surprise, there were also a number or groups of guys, smartly dressed fit for clubbing, but hey, they were actually discussing about some of the scenes during the intermission in front of us. *Clap*Clap!

The first appearance was a quick scene from the prince and the old witch who transformed him into the beast. There were a couple of gimmick explosions on the transformations of both of the characters. It was brief, but quick enough. I could feel myself partially holding my breath for the next scene. (one of my favourites from the movie).

Then backdrop then quickly and smoothly changed to the famous Belle and Villagers scene. There were some fake 16th century houses made out of boxes i suppose, an old style well with a couple of stairs and scenery painting in the background. The initial appearance of Belle was welcomed with an applause of excitement from the audience. Dressed, looked, even sounded like Belle in the cartoon-movie version, the introduction song of the movie was lively and to me, it was a 3D/human performance depiction of my favourite fairy tale. I can't really explain the rare feeling i had in me and i can still recall that feeling vividly even until now, i was very much amused at how this opening musical act, Belle and the villagers, depicted in a live form at the KLCC Plenary Hall, too good that it brought some tears of amusement to my eyes towards the end of the act. As the song of the act ended, the audience gave a roar of applause, for quite a longer time than just a moment for an applause, and at that instance, this broadway musical has managed to capture our hearts. More and more expectation build up..

The act smoothly changed to the next continuation acts. The backdrops changed, more colourful characters introduced..Gaston and his funny sidekick, the dancers, just to name a few. The storyline continues with Maurice, Belle's father and his inventions. Quite a scientist he is, he was labeled a loony to the rest of the villagers and became a laughing stock. Along with his invention 'car' he proceeded into the woods where he got lost and accidentally stumbled upon an old castle. There is the castle lies the beast and his companions.

As we remember from the movie, not only that the prince was hexed, his assistants were also bewitched into taking the forms of some of the things in the castle. Here began the appearance of other favourite characters, the candle light, Lumiere, the clock, Cogsworth, the teapot, Mrs Pott and her child, chip, the tea cup as well as the wardrobe. There were also other characters added to the show for the dancers, the napkins for the ladies and cutleries for the lads.

Other memorable musical acts that received more thundering applause from the audience are of course, the theme song, Tale as Old as Time and There Must Be Something There that Wasn't there Before by Mrs Potts, Be Our Guest by Lumiere and of course, Gaston song.


In short, for all the musical performances, the synchronization of the dancers, background, lighting changes and orchestrated music are simply awesome.

How else can I express our amusement... Towards the end of the show, there was a technical glitch for about 2 minutes, as the Beast was going to be magically transformed to become the Prince, he was unable to be airlifted and turned round and round, up and down in the air, announcement came and curtains downed, from the crowd..there was no "Ahhh..!", no clutter of noises, but instead we were applauding and some whistling, giving support and showing that we have faith, fix it, it's gonna be good. Merely 2 minutes and the scene continued where it left off, together with another roar of applause. (I don't remember Malaysian crowd being such supportive)

We walked out, pleasantly satisfied, amused. The glitch enhances our support and satisfaction, only made the show better.

Why I hate Charging my Phones

Becoz i want my phone to be a reliable tool, and take it for granted. I have two phones for two different numbers, office and personal usage. Office usage - a sony erricsson - standby time 3 days, i'm thoroughly satisfied with this one but I don't fancy SE's lines of smart phone..they don't offer much choice. And for personal usage, supposedly to be more 'fun' than work - Nokia N95 - this model is actually killing my interest in mobile phones technology.

I'm comfortable with having to plug a laptop/notebook to the power chord but that's the nature of its usage, u see, u use the notebooks/laptops on a desk..and usually there will be a power chord nearby..u don't use ur laptops at bus stops, while u're walking, driving..eh? There are places which can enhance the joy of utilizing this piece of tool, if not ur own house, there's coffee shops, librabries and mamak stalls...with desks and tables, thus power chords.

Anyways, as for my N95, it boasts the line, "it's what computers have become", instead, by just using it for calls and hardly sms-ing..taking some 20 or so pics, it dies on me in less than 20hrs/day. (and no, i don't leave it running any applications on standby).

i haven't been using it for mp3 or web browsing or GPS yet. yes, i guess its true when they say, it's what computers have become..the mere 3 hours continous usage of a computer (laptop/notebook) requires it to be plugged to a power chord.

The fact that is it actually a phone for God's sakes..shouldn't it be conveniently mobile? 3-hours continous usage, how am i suppose to make calls and GPS-ing while i'm travelling? It's not practical at all.