Renault Formula 1 car at Sungai Wang

Caught a glimpse of the Renault Formula 1 which won last year's Formula 1 Championship at Sungai Wang today. It was part of the show brought in by Renault with other cars like the Grand Scenic and the weird looking Kangoo.
All photos were taken using my Nokia 3230... the only camera that I carry around!!

Stevie Wonder nite on American Idol

All the 12 finalist for American Idol were required to render a Stevie Wonder song. Singing his songs are quite a challenge. All of the contestants belted out with their strongest performance but there are a few obvious weaker ones.

On results night, the shocker came, the lowest votes were accorded to:

1. Ace Young
2. Lisa Tucker (what a surprise considering that she's one of many people's favorite)
3. Melissa McGhee


In the end it was goodbye to Melissa.

A reward for my daughter

Yeah, the SPM results are out. People scoring 15 A1, wow, these are sadist and monsters!!

Well my daughter also have the face the reality, she went to school to get her results and quickly SMS me of her results. Well, her results are satisfactory and better than mine! I replied and asked her what she wanted for the rewards and also her birthday present (on 21 March). She replied that I would be buying her a car but she asked for a Sony Ericsson W8001 handphone. I agreed and went over to KLCC to get the phone for her. Guess what, all the 3 stores that I went did have sock of that phone, that phone must be selling like hot cakes. I placed an order with the Hello Station where they said that they can get a unit for me in the evening.

They lived up to their promise and I hope over again to collect the phone.. guess the price... RM1.8K!!! What to do, promised her already and cannot go back on my words. To Pauline... eat your heart out, my daughter's phone is better than yours!!!

First hand look at the new Honda Civic

I finally have the chance to see the new 8th Generation Civic at the showroom. I promised my "sales advisor" that I will be at the showroom on Saturday after 10.00 a.m. after sending my daughter to work at leisure Mall, I was at the showroom with my son. Many people there, admiring at the new car.

The show room have two units of the new Civic, the metallic blue 1.8 version and the new colour bronze silver (metallic grey) 2.0 version. Wow, it was a beauty from the outside.

From the price list, the 1.8 version cost RM117.8 OTR while the 2.0 version is RM131.8 OTR. So Honda is giving the Toyota and Nissan boys (No fight for the boys at Proton) a run for their money should a person consider the Altis or the Sentra. I would like to discuss much on this or else I would have a bunch of hate mails shooting at me!!
The dash board is the most attractive part of the car. The 2.0 version is the better version (why not, it cost RM14K more), when compared to the 1.8 version. Differences between the two versions are:

• Additional controls at the steering wheel for cruise control and entertainment centre control (for sound volume and change of radio channels)
• Pedal gear shift just like a formula 1 car where you can shift gears up and down.
• A 6 in dash CD changer (single disc only for the 1.8 version)

However, my son did not like the car.. why because he enjoys the Accord much more than any other cars!!

Anyone interest to get the new Civic, I don't mind being the introducer to my "sales advisor", she's an ANGEL!.

Great fireworks picture

Just want to share some very nice photos of fireworks that I found:

Week 3 of American Idol

Well the week really flies, it felt like just a moment ago that I have blog on the second week's casualties of American Idol. Today another 4 contestant got voted out again leaving the final 12 contestants of 6 boys and 6 girls.

This week the one that got to say goodbye were:












Gedeon McKinney, the ever smiling man. Actually I think he has some disorder of his teeth and lips where he cannot get them to close off. But luckily his teeth looks white and he seemed to be smiling all the while. Last night he sang "When A Man Loves A Women" , the judges felt that the song was too old for him to sing.











Will Makar, he sang terribly last night. I was not surprise that he was voted out.












Kinnik Sky, the judges seems to be always comparing her with the younger contestant like Paris and Lisa. She did not sing well. I wonder how she got the surname "SKY".











Alya Brown, the tallest girl of the group. She is a good singer but I think she did so well. I was a bit surprise that she did not get much vote. I would have thought that Melissa McGhee would be one that we will be saying goodbye.

In week three, my favourite singers are Lisa Tucker, Paris Bennett, Chris Daugthry, Elliot Yamin and the powerful Mandisa (her surname was not made known)

Let the race begin!! It's Formula 1 time again

Yes, the Formula 1 season for 2006 will start at Bahrain this Saturday. As of every year there are changes to the rules and regulations which was to make " the cars safer and slower". The most obvious would be the engine of the cars will be V8 instead of the V10, Horsepower will surely be reduced, but I am waiting to see what is the impact of the lap time that will achieve by the cars.

The qualify method is also changed, I would not elaborate much because I do not understand it is run. Let's just see how the qualifying is done this Saturday and I will have a better picture.

As usual, my loyalty stays with Ferrari and Michael Schumacher to win races. I will be also watching close the Honda team (since I am also driving a Honda). Ruben and Jenson will pose strong challenges to other teams.

The new team BMW Sauber does Malaysian proud by having Petronas as one of its sponsor. If you have watch the TV, BMW and Petronas has carried two advertisement which I find very amusing. The first ad is about a Malay boy who is playing with a replica of the BMW Formula 1 car while his father was reading the papers. The father was annoyed when the boy made the sound of a Formula 1 which disturb his concentration. When his father advised him to be quiet down, the boy answered back in German speaking the facts of a Formula 1 car. The father looks puzzled. On the other ad, it was the reversed of the first. A German boy was playing with a replica BMW Formula 1 car in the snow. His father came out of the house and told him to quite down, guess what the boy spoke in Malay on facts on Formula 1 car!! Wow, what a way to promote the tie up of two big companies BMW (German) and Petronas (Malaysian).

Incidentally, the Malaysian organisers for the Sepang Race has been busy to promote the race to get more people to the circuit. RM50 for 3 days at Sepang!! Wow, that's a great way to spend 3 days in the sun (or rain) at Sepang watching the greatest show on earth. Yesterday, my colleague told me that his daughter's was give free tickets to attend the race at Sepang. The tickets were not only given to her but also to the whole class (maybe the whole) school. My guess is that the organisers would like to fill up all the places on the hill side of the Sepang circuit. Empty hills are a sore eye to the organiser when the race is broadcast live all over the world.

Sad to day I will not be at Sepang. I rather be relaxing at home watching it at the comfort of my sofa, sipping a can of Coke and able to see the race from every angle of the Sepang circuit!!!

30 sen increase in fuel price burnt a hole in my pocket

It was a real shocker when the Government announced an increase of 30 sen to the petrol price. I got to know the news over the radio while driving to work on 1 March. I though I heard it wrong but the big headlines in the paper confirmed it.

Normally a full tank petrol cost me RM80-00 , this time around the price of RM100-00 for a full tank... an additional of RM20-00 per full tank. Guess that I will not be traveling so much if it is not necessary on Saturdays and Sunday.

The sudden increase in fuel price will definitely see the spiral rise in food and transportation prices. But where's the salary increase??? But what the heck life still need to go on... 30 sen or RM1-00 increase we will still have pay as long as we need to drive our cars unless you can get yourself an oil well in your backyard!!!

2nd week of casualties at American Idol

his time around 2 boys and 2 girls got go get out of ther ace of becoming an American Idol. Well after the performance and judges comments on the girls and boys, the contestants that were eliminated were not surprise at all:

Heather Cox who sang Hero. Good performance but the song does not suit her.











Brenna Gethers, finally the hated girl has been eliminated.











David Radford, guess those oldies songs could not rope in any good votes. My guess is that the voters are youngster who have much time sending their votes while the phone while their were not watching or did not bother to vote.











Jose "Sway" Panala, sad to see him go but his own voice is not there.











What I like during the elimination show, Simon managed to guess the actual person that would be voted out. However, I was shocked that Kevin Covais is the bottom three that receive the lowest votes. Elliot Yamin sounds real good, the girls Lisa and Paris are going stronger.

Waiting for next week's performance to see who will be going back home.

So where the bloody hell are you

Australia launched a new A$180 million ($133 million) advertising campaign which seeks to attract international tourists by swearing at them. “Where the bloody hell are you? Asks the new campaign launched by Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey. Bailey said the campaign will target potential tourists in China, Japan, India, the United States, Germany and Britain and would be rolled out in the next few weeks. It echoes the hugely successful. “Put another shrimp on the barbie” tourism campaign of the 1980s, which featured singlet-wearing comedian Paul Hogan and which lured an estimated 250,000 American tourists to Australia. The new campaign, which can be seen on Tourism Australia Web site (www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com), features a series of Australian backdrops. It begins with characters saying: “We'’ve poured you a beer and we've had the camels shampooed, we'’ve saved you a spot on the beach … and we'’ve got the sharks out of the pool. A bikini-clad woman then asks: So where the bloody hell are you?.

So Malaysian to attract more tourism, we should boldly say "Lu sudah puki mana?"

Here we go again.. it's AMERICAN IDOL

Season 5 of American Idol with the 12 boys and 12 girls started rolling again. For the past 2 nights I have been watching the show where 12 boys and 12 girls belt it out to move on to next week.
I started to get interested in the reality show since last year where I followed closely on the progress of all the contestants till the final show where Carrie Underwood was crowned the 4th American Idol.

Well tonight is the results show where 2 boys and 2 girls with the lowest number of votes get kicked out. The four who got kicked out were:














Becky O'Donohue 25, the sexy one half twin. She's sexy and Simon said that she will be more successful as a model. From the photo I wouldn't agree less.















Stevie Scott 19, this contestant did not appeal to me much because of her squeaky voice. Even though she mentioned that she love to sign opera and in different languages, I did not see much potential in her.













Bobby Bennett Jr 19, the fatty of the boys singer. He was fun when signing but it not really showed his talent.














Patrick Hall 27, I was surprise that he was voted out because he was singing well. He was the first male contestant to appear on stage and have admitted to be very nervous. Maybe, that's why he was not able to show off his real talent.

To me the favourite boys and girls are:

Lisa Tucker 16 - strong voice and can really go far.

Paris Benett 17 - she's also great and can dance well

Ace Young 25 - my daughter said that he' very handsome. Well I would agree with her judgment too. Strong voice where he can bring the tone from low to high and low again with much grace. The song he sang, Father Figure was one of my favourite George Michael songs too.

Taylor Hicks 29 - he sounds great and have good showmanship. My son called him the Frankenstein because he moves like him.

Other favourite of mine are:
Kevin Covais - cute guy
David Radford - sounds like another Micheal Buble
Ayla Brown - tall basketball player which can sing well
Katharine MacPhee - a very pretty face who can melt all man's heart.

The one I hated most - Brenna Gether - big boobs would not get her far.

The New Honda Civic in Malaysia

After many postings on the new Honda Civic, it's finally going to be launched in Malaysia on 9 March 2006. Honda Malaysia have a countdown website dedicated to the launch of the new car in Malaysia. Click on this link to go to the launch site.

I called my sales rep for Honda for some information of the car. She (yes.. it's she) said that the price has not be confirmed but the indicative price is RM120K for the 1.8 model while the 2.0 model will cost about RM135K. First reaction is that the price of the car is high but when you compare the price to an Altis, the pricing is comparable.

Delivery period will be about 1 1/2 months, but it's just an indicative waiting period. The last time I placed my order on my Accord, she also mentioned to me to wait for a month, but the came in 3 weeks time considering the black colour that I choose is the most popular colour for the Accord.

I will definitely be at the show room on 11 March (Saturday) to view the car after a long, long wait for it's arrival. I also heard that there will be a "facelifted" Honda Accord be launch in June/July this year. Maybe it will look like the 2006 Honda that has been launched in USA. The changes would be on the tail lights..

To Thiagarajan, after much advise from all of us, it's time to change your 12 year old Peugeot to the Accord or at least the Civic. Don't bother about the bloody DASHBOARD design!!!

Simple Translation

Adult: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

Beauty Parlor: A place where women curl up and dye.

Cannibal: Someone who is fed up with people.

Chickens: The only creatures you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

Dust: Mud with the juice squeezed out.

Egotistic: Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

Gossip: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.

Handkerchief: Cold Storage.

Inflation: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

Mosquito: An insect that makes you like flies better.

Secret: Something you tell to one person at a time.

Musical Breast Implant?

I found this to be interesting, read on:

Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman’s breast implants. One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person’s whole music collection. BT futurology, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years.

BT Laboratories’ analyst Ian Pearson said flexible plastic electronics would sit inside the breast. A signal would be relayed to headphones, while the device would be controlled by Bluetooth using a panel on the wrist. According to The Sun he said: “It is now very hard for me to think of breast implants as just decorative. If a woman has something implanted permanently, it might as well do something useful.”

The sensors around the body linked through the electrical impulses in the chips may also be able to warn wearers about heart murmurs, blood pressure increases, diabetes and breast cancer.

20 Interesting Facts

1. A zebra is white with black stripes.

2. All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

3. Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards.

4. Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

5. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

6. The word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent”.

7. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it’s head are the rabbit and the parrot.

8. A ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

9. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

10. The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

11. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.

12. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

13. ‘Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia’ is the fear of long words.

14. Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.

15. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

16. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start.

17. In 1883 the explosion of the volcano Krakatau put so much dust into the earth’s atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two years.

18. “Almost” is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

19. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

20. Electricity doesn’t move through a wire but through a field around the wire

More Scenes from Fearless

Valentine's Day? What's that?

Yeah yeah yeah, Valentine's Day falls on every February 14 of the year, who doesn't know that? To me, it's just another day... Boring me isn't it? Well before you jump to any conclusion, let's look at the fact.

It's only February 14, a traditional day "invented" by the westerners to celebrate LOVE. Why only one day? Why not every day?

According to the Sunday Times dated yesterday (12 February 2006), there are a total of 5.0 million males and female above the age of 15 years and above who are never married. These people are single by choice. 3.1 million are male while 2.4 million are female. Is Cupid doing it work?

When it's all said and done I was one of the victim of the Cupid. Twenty years later and with three children, the arrow that have been stuck with me still is in my heart! Why? Because every day is a Valentine's Day.

Visit to the Fo Gung Shan Dong Zen Temple

It has been a common practice for me to visit various temples during Chinese New Year. One temple which have received much publicity is the Fo Gung Shan Dong Zen (FGSDZ) Temple which is located at Jenjarom. For those who don't know where is Jenjarom, well it was a small (but very rich people staying there) town on your way from Klang to Banting. I anted to visit the temple after watching the feature of the temple in NTV7 and at the same time I would like to snap some photos of the surrounding of the temple.

We went to FGSDZ temple on the evening of the second day of CNY (30 January 2006), my wife wanted to avoid the hot and humid. But instead of avoiding the heat and humidity, there were some many people in their cars heading to the same direction. Cars were queuing up to the temple, parking space were limited. I have to drop off my family near the temple to get a parking for my car.

When I reached the temple, I could not reach my family over the phone, guess why? Network was too congested maybe due to limited coverage for Maxis in the area. Got fed up of trying to reach them, I ventured alone snapping photos here and there. Too bad my Nikon Coolpix 880 was not geared for night photos and the photos you see are the best I could have taken. Looks like I to consider getting a Nikon D50 or D70s to enable me to take better photos. see more photos at my photo blog.

Buddha's faceThe lovely lanterns hung around the temple

More lanterns

In the end, my wife managed to send me a SMS on their location and I went looking for them at the location where the whole family was re-united.

After the end of walking around the temple, it was time to go home. Guess what? A long jam of cars awaited us from Jenjarom to the Kesas Highway. It took me over 45 minutes to get to Kesas from Jenjarom.

Since we did not have out dinner before going to the temple, we landed having supper at a HongKong style cafe at Leisure Mall at midnight.

Update on the launch of the new Honda Civic in Malaysia

Here are some spy photos of the new Honda Civic which is tentative to be launch next month. The spy photos were featured at Paul Tan's webiste.


These spy shots were sent in by a reader, and apparently they were shot being test driven in Shah Alam. Minimal camouflage with only some black strips on the sides of the cars and the rear light cluster covered up. There are also no badges on the car, but the shape is just too recognisable!

The 2006 Honda Civic, this time with a frontal spyshot. Looking good. The square Honda badgeÂ’s outline is kind of visible through all the masking. Headlamps disguised. And it kind of looks like the wing mirrors are wrapped with tape too, so maybe we have signal indicators on the signal lamp, otherwise there would be no reason to mask it out.

McLaren MP4-21 Unveiled

Hello, it has been a long long time since my last posting. You may say that I have been kept lazy with the Chinese New Year Festivity, but to start with I would like to post on the subject on the new McLaren MP4-21 which was just unveiled at the McLaren Official website.

Here is two photos of the new MP4-21 which will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.

On the outside, the new MP4-21 will bear the name of their new sponsor which is Johnnie Walker which replaced West, the tobacco company where tobacco sponsorship is slowly being banned in Europe (but not in Malaysia).

The new MP4-21 will have the new V-8 2,400 c.c engine which is the new requirement under the FIA 2006 rules.

From the extensive testing that were conducted by various Formula 1 teams during the winter time, the new MP4-21 really going to make the rest of the boys i.e. Renault, Ferrari and Toyota a run for their money.

Just cannot wait for the start of the Formula 1 season for 2006 which will happen at Sakhir Circuit at Bahrain on 12 March 2006, that's less than one month to go.