Written by lainie at 04:04 PM on May 1, 2008 in Friends.

Over lunch with Tate, he gave me a scenario.

I am in a moving train. It is heading down a track that diverges into left, and right.

On the right, are 5 people.

On the left, is one person.

My train is enroute to killing 5 people. My only choice is whether or not to throw the switch.

If I do, the train switches tracks to the left, one person dies instead of five. I am incapable of warning both parties that either are about to be run over and killed. Presume that other options (stopping the train, freezing time, yelling "Cut!") are unavailable.

Lainie: Obviously I'd let the five die.

Reasoning: What the hell were the five doing on the tracks when there's a train scheduled anyway? I'm not killing some unlucky, random bloke just cause five people were irresponsible. Besides, five people stand a better chance of seeing a train coming at them, I think.

Apparently, I made the wrong (ie: unpopular) choice - I was slightly taken aback, because I thought I'd made the obvious one.  Tate had to "customise" the scenario for me (everyone is tied down and not put on the tracks of their own free will in the first place).

I decided to kill the one man instead - if I were to make a choice at all, that is.

Then he asked me to picture the 2nd scenario: What if I was on a cliff, watching a train. It is about to mow five people over. My only option of preventing that was to throw a person standing next to me onto the train tracks.

This will slow down the train, and make it stop in time to prevent killing the other five.

Lainie: No I wouldn't.

Apparently, that  is the common answer, and a test to show how morality is relative depending on emphasis on sentient objects (person next to you) over inanimate objects (a switch) - or something la, I was eating lunch and not entirely attentive sorry Tate .

But really, what I was thinking is, if you're gonna be so heroic, fucking throw yourself onto the tracks and die for what you believe in - not kill some random person unlucky enough to be standing next to you at the moment you were having  grandiose visions of saving people.

Tate said throwing yourself onto the tracks instead is not the first alternative that would come to mind, so it's not a valid answer.

What is valid though, is that I would not choose to throw a man over, when it's essentially the same thing as flipping a switch. I think there are issues of passivity to be taken into account here, but hey.

So. Since I am unwilling to throw myself or another person down a cliff to save your ass (though I would appreciate it if the situation was reversed), if you're ever near the train tracks, try to avoid any circumstances that will render you unconscious, in the hands of villians with nefarious plans.

For that matter, try to avoid those with nefarious plans involving your demise, in any general situation. I only have your well-being in mind.

The next scenario Tate asked me to imagine was this. Tate and I are poor starving people. Someone gives me a hundred dollars, on the condition that I split it with Tate in such a way that he agrees to it. He asked how much I would split it:

Lainie: 90, 10.

Ninety to me, ten to him.

He says generally, people wouldn't accept that deal, and that would mean both end up unpaid. A way of punishing the first person for being grossly unfair, when technically, it's an economic gain even if I offered so much as a dollar (which is how I see it).

I pointed out he did say we were poor, starving people. At that point, if someone gave me ten bucks, I'd say yes. Hunger's a good incentive. And - Money for nothing? Heck, sure! It's seldom starving people who can afford staunch principles on vague issues like how to divide money that wasn't earned in the first place.

To be fair, if I split it 1 - 99, and took the one dollar, we'd still both be at an economic advantage but I wouldn't be too happy about it either if it was my choice.

If we both weren't starving, I'd have offered something closer to 70-30. I don't know about you. If bargaining was involved, these numbers would change according to how I perceive the person. I wasn't really thinking of my personality or Tate's, so much as starvation acting as an incentive, in terms of money-splitting.

If it's a friend, I'd probably be more inclined to split it equally - a bias towards people I know, as opposed to people in need. Perhaps it is more accurate to say I will be more inclined to split it equally if I was face to face with the reaction of the split. I mean, (presuming I had to disclose all information), shooting off an email going "Hey, some dude's willing to give me 90bucks if you'll take 10 bucks too" is a lot easier than having the terms laid out to both people at the same time. No?

Should the money be split according to the amount of cooperation involved in getting the deal done? Or according to how much I can get away with? What do you reckon? If you read stuff like Freakonomics you'd probably say it matters whether or not the deal was anonymous.

Now, I just finished some work, so I've a date with La Vie en Rose (great movie so far), followed by Kam... in Your Face tonight.

Written by lainie at 07:49 PM on May 2, 2008 in Events, Arty stuff.

I went for Kam...In Your Face last night. I must admit to being a bit confused initially

It was touted as a "comedy musical", yet listed under "dance" in Kakiseni. Still, when offered free tickets, I jumped at the chance to watch the show.

Here's a very simple few thoughts about the show, IF YOU DO GO:

1) Switch off your brain.
2) Go only if you will enjoy watching the songs performed (check out the list here).
2) Be prepared: The skits have very painful dialogues, and you've heard all the jokes before, in one variation or another. The entire thing is pointless, but to be fair, neither narration or poignancy is the aim of the show. Ignore the skits the best you can.

[ As I told a friend : Except for some passing references to Youtube and Lingam that can be recycled as mamak-conversation jokes, everything else sounded like I was surrounded by an auntier, less funny version of my mother's friends, and they've just discovered all the forwarded emails you read five years ago - to do the group of witty, slightly sleazy ladies my mother hangs out with a discredit ]

3) You are friends with / a fan of certain members of the cast.
4) You may encounter flashes of Simon Cowell bitching about the importance of "song choice" during some of the songs.
5) Not all the people singing, can actually sing. Same for dancing / acting. The headliners may especially look inept next to their backup dancers.
6) The lights are fun and disco, but we spent some part of it covering up our eyes - painful.

Cast:

1) Fang Chyi is a friend, and as usual, a great singer. And, very dapper looking in this show, all those gaya clothes. If I knew she was single, I would throw her to the (single female) wolves. I love her voice. Ho lay tiu!

2) Malik Taufik - first time hearing him sing, possibly. Chop of approval, definitely.

3) Ho Soon Yoon - worked with him on Rose Rose I Love You. Has so much fun during the show you can't miss it.

4) Ina Fabregas - WHAT A VOICE. If, for some strange reason, you are going to check Kam...In Your Face solely for the vocals - she will be the epitome of why you should watch it.

5) Douglas Lim can....rap! I never knew! Usually these things come off quite painful when actors suddenly discover rapping roles in shows, but he actually pulls it off quite well (far higher than his pants go). Admiration - not bad, this fellow.

6) The male dancers were more familiar to me than the women - but I am gay, and the "showgirls" are definitely eye catching and have the moves. I liked the belly / indian classical inspired dance. If you love watching men look very flamboyant / gay (hi Rach!), the men are also for you.

It takes a fair bit of balls to set up a show like this, I suppose.

One final thing: Audience participation. They pulled up Brian..who runs a great jazz website and writes in the music section for Time Out KL (which he admitted onstage, and gave me a giggling fit). My friend leaned over and whispered that they were lucky Time Out doesn't review shows. Brian was very sporting throughout, and walked off with a tshirt .

Would I pay RM62 (the cheapest seat - expect to be made fun of in the show if that's where you're seated) to watch this show? Hell, no. But, you may not be looking for the same entertainment I am. I prefer witty plays over toilet jokes.

I have no doubt Kam...In Your Face will do well, commercially. If you want something that doesn't aim to be anything more than cheap shots and simple bawdy fun, and you've disposable income at hand - this could be it.

If you liked the production "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" some time back, you'll probably like this too. If you hated it, don't go for Kam.

My last word of advice: Booze up before you go.

Written by lainie at 03:51 AM on May 5, 2008 in Rants, Events, Arty stuff.

Annexe was fun over the weekend - so many events happening at a go: Art for Grabs,  KL Alternative Book Fest, some talks.

Saturday: I went for a talk (The Lost Tribes of Malaysia -   The Construction of 'Race' in Colonial Malaya and Its Enduring Traces Today) organised by OtherMalaysia on Saturday, in Annexe - it was given by Farish Noor.

You can view Youtube videos of the talk here (I am industrious, si - I may even upload the notes here, being fairly hopeful I'll get away with it).

You may have encountered the points in this talk before. I'm not saying the talk sucked, because it didn't. I guess my friends and I were expecting something a bit more in-depth. It felt too general, and some felt they didn't hear anything too different.

Caught up with Meesh, which is always good. Told her what we thought of the talk, and agreed on the same point yet again - it doesn't sound new to us (Youtube and Google!), but there IS a vast audience out there who could still learn new ways to look at our current political situation regarding ethnicity. It's just that it felt like the audience at The Annexe could have handled more.

This was followed by a trip to Magnificent Fish & Chips Market, across the road from Frangipani's. Technically, it's next to the super-gay friendly Thai restaurant Baan26 - but, Baan isn't such a cruise-friendly, open air trendy space that Magnificent is. A decent mix in its patrons, but definitely a noticeable amount of gay men - I'm very presumptuous.

After the fish & chips, it was over to Twenty One (our friend had just opened a bottle of whiskey there). Twenty One is a meat market isn't it? It's one of those places that started off trying to be a gay place, and ended up filled with the kind of girls who hunt in packs for men, while wearing skimpy clothing and acting kinda...crass...from what I saw.

I haven't been to such a straight place in a while. Twenty One, not a Gay Place (anymore)! Booo, I wanted to go to Market Place on Jalan Yap Kwan Seng (which, unfortunately and coincidentally, was throwing a gay party - with an RM50 cover charge). Next time then, Rach wants to go too .

Our friend also had a bottle in Frangipani, and told us to go over and drink it up for him, but we were too knackered by then. I'm compelled to state here my friend isn't gay, in case anyone terasa misrepresented even if no one is named .

--

Today I grudgingly woke up and went for KL Alternative Bookfest (KLAB). Was made photographer for Kakiseni, which was launching its Kaki Script book (given out for free in exchange for filling out a survey). And I got lots of free stuff, I'll tell you more about it soon (with pics).

--

I was going to write more about the KLAB, but I got distracted by this article:

Malaysia plans women travel curbs

Women's groups in Malaysia have reacted angrily to proposed government restrictions on women travelling abroad on their own.

State media say the plan would require women to obtain written consent from their families or employers.

...

Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said 90% of cases where Malaysian women had been jailed by foreign courts involved drugs.

Do I even want to know where he got that percentage from? If, for some reason, you are more comfortable reading The Star than foreign media (don't presume I love BBC either), here's their take on the story:

Ministry wants women going abroad alone to get family consent

KUALA KLAWANG: Local women intending to travel abroad alone may need family consent in a bid to prevent them from being used as “drug mules” by international syndicates.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said a proposal to this effect would be made soon to the Cabinet, following several incidents where women were used to smuggle drugs overseas.

To say I am feeling irritated by this insulting suggestion will not be to put it very mildly. I would prefer to be more than irritated, but frankly, I am so tired and so used to expecting stupid stuff like these I don't even feel it anymore. Headlines: Has your government desensitised you today?

Ah hell, for old time's sake - let's at least make an effort.

You want to curb  freedoms, and legislate sexism, I suggest you have a FUCKING GOOD REASON and SHITLOADS OF AWESOME PR, and that's just the beginning of how you will soften the bitchslap that will follow such idiocies. The last thing I want is my freedom of movement to be further restricted by some pisspoor whateverthefuck that turd of an idea is called.

It's an awfully inadequate means of comparison, but at this very moment I feel that between the people behind that idea, and ME, I'm far less likely to be unwittingly turned into a drug mule. My ego strongly resists the idea that I am more gullible than....than.... THAT! THAT! ALL OF THEM!

The 2nd thing I don't want to know: Whether they're serious (and are therefore idiots), or trying to do something and using this as the means to an end (and are therefore also, idiots).

It's almost 4am. Hell with this, I'm off to bed.

Written by lainie at 12:38 PM on May 7, 2008 in Friends, Arty stuff.

I recently contacted a Brazillian graffiti artist / emcee who will be in KL soon, and she replied (yay!). Hope I get to meet her, she has funky funky funky art.

My internet connection is piss, so to pre-empt the common question people seem to ask me - no, I don't know what she looks like, only her work.

On a more serious note, I've articles and a touguide to write,  and websites to design. So, because I'm running low on time today, here's a minor update:

I picked up a lot of stuff over the weekend, because

1) Books were given away at KL Alternative Boofair
2) People gave me knick knacks bought at Arts for Grabs
3) My birthday is coming soon (tomorrow, actually).

Until later, here's a doodle from my sketchbook (a present from Kat), I don't know if you can make the stuff out:

My handwriting's awful, I know.

If you want more online entertainment, check out Chin Yew's website. He gave me a copy of his comic book (The Boy Who Loved Clouds) over the weekend - it's a result of his website 30 Day Artist, which I think is a fun idea. I'll love to participate later in the year. The last time I saw Chin Yew he had very long hair and was totting a huge videocamera around. Now he's got short hair and is selling his comic books.

I bought another two copies of his black and white comics too! He's looking for artists on a monthly basis - head on over to 30 Day Artist and check it out.

*Ironically, I have time to blog solely because my internet connection is down.

Written by lainie at 01:35 PM on May 8, 2008 in work?, Friends.

 It's my birthday today! Happy birthdayyyy to meeeeee (and now this is your cue).

Went for my birthday dinner at Boathouse, out of pseudo tradition. The last time I celebrated my birthday it was in Boathouse too. This, however, was the first time I've ever attempted to invite a list of people over to an event about me.

Usually a friend who understands my incompetence and willingness to not celebrate over planning anything will take over. But, yknow, I just turned 25, I'm a big girl now. Gotta learn to do some things myself.

Let's just say I was balls at it, no thanks to Jemufo who could have warned me ahead that my invite list was missing a lot of people, but did not. I'd sent out a mass email about a week before:

Jemufo: Yeah, I took a look at it and was thinking "You so forgot a lot of people"

Lainie: And NOW you tell me?? (we were already on the way to the dinner).

Last minute invitations all around Bosco was there too, such a charming lil prince he is. Was surprised with a birthday cake, I laughed my wish away (but I'd still like to think it'd come true). Not related to my wishes, but I think amidst the bad jokes going around, a strap-on and I now somehow owe my alpha-male hetero housemate a visit. He's not to lock his roomdoors at night anymore.

I went to Maison after the dinner for a Bang-Mi / WhateverKL party with Smile and Tei. Met Bee there, he told me the DJ's quite famous in Thailand, which I can believe because the beats were cool.

Smile: Lainie Yeoh, you're making out with someone tonight, or I am making out with you.

Tei wanted to know why she didn't get the same offer on her birthday. I wanted to know what kinda slutty* Smile thinks I am when I go clubbing. The music was great in Maison - halfway through, when I clearly wasn't trying to paste my face to anyone else's, I turned to Smile and said

Lainie: at the rate I'm going, it looks like you'll have to make out with me. But I warn you. I'm GONNA BE REALLY BAD AT IT!

And then I stuck out my very wide tongue at her and sloppily waggled it in all sorts of directions. She retracted the offer, coward. Later over supper I reminded her again of her IOU

Smile: I'm taking it back.

Lainie: *smacks table* No! This is my birthday present, and I'm claiming it!

Smile: Okay. Fine. Let's do it now.

Lainie: Er. Later la.

Then she laughed at me. Aggro straight girls in dodgy chinese hawker shops at 3am, not the time or place for randy homosexual acts.

All in all, a fun night.

*really, I'm not as big a skank as some people think. If I am then go ahead and call me one, no worries. But dammit! Don't give me expectations to live up to!

Have I been updating here what I've been doing over at Kakiseni? I have such an awful memory.

Tembak: You Tube Sensation Outshines Chunky Bijou! by Lainie Yeoh - About KokoKaina for Tembak section

Shots: The Annexe Collision Weekend by Yasmin Zetti Martin - I took a lot of the photos you will see at this Tembak Shots piece.

There's also a Tembak piece on the poetry slam that wasn't published last week because of space issues - clearly, I prefer the short attention span format at Tembak over longer articles. I don't have the link yet, I think they're uploading photos still.

And what am I doing for my birthday today? Watching a French movie tonight, but working all the way up till then Damn the rent.

Written by lainie at 05:47 PM on May 8, 2008 in Links / Email.

Hey folks, KAMI the Movie is out soon. Yknow, the one based on that popular local music-tv-series thing. Anything that mixes music and romance huh? I hear it's been generating some "fire down below" heat. Thought you guys would like to check out the trailer. Cheers!

Written by lainie at 04:33 PM on May 11, 2008 in Family, Rants, Friends.

Whoo. Gotta call my mother for Mother's Day, but it's her nap time.

Yesterday, I saw a patrol car in Damansara Jaya for the first time. The occasion was this: While crossing the road with two friends, a car appeared around the corner pretty fast and was coming towards us. Driver honked at us (we were further down the road, not right at the corner).

Now we were already making our way past the lane, and would have been safely across anyway. I frowned and pretty much called him a wanker. Because he had the kind courtesy to make it a point to be glaring at us as he went by, he noticed me doing this.

He then pulled his car over a bit further ahead, on the other side of the road where we were crossing - he wanted to get out and confront us. Like hello, emulating road bullies clearly not uncool yet.

First instinct I had was to immediately run over and pick a fight - but I saw he had a kid in the passenger seat, so I shouted back at him instead, as I walked to him. I was hollering the moment I knew he could hear me.

Basically we had a huge shouting row, he had started in Cantonese (which I tried to continue for all of three sentences) before I said "FINE! We are continuing this in English!". He accused me of being a snob - apparently, the classier you are in this country, the less languages you should be able to communicate in.

Really, I think in English and at point of anger, hell if I were busy figuring out how to phrase something..

Yelled at each other: me telling him he was a driving menace, him accusing me of crossing the road where I shouldn't (to which I screamed and asked if he saw any bloody pedestrian crossing, and what the hell was he doing taking corners at that speed).

He asked if I was ashamed that as a woman I was causing a scene, and I asked if that meant he could drive like an idiot because he's a man. He then said my answer clearly showed that I was looking for trouble.

Apparently, this situation could only exist because I was the one who cari pasal. Oh yeah, totally. Must have been my telekinesis pulling his car over a few minutes ago, before kicking him out, so I could have a good shout in the daytime. Like this dude's double standards could easily cover the entire universe of his mind - because it's very small.

He told me if I thought I was so in the right, and I really want to make it big, then let's take it to the police. Like I can be bothered with such wankers, but FINE, you want the police? Look, here's a patrol car now (cue: patrol car drives by). I gestured for the police to stop and see what was happening.

Two policemen stepped out and clearly wanted no part in this. The fatter policeman was even better in his opinion: He asked if the both of us "tak malu ke" for arguing in public when we are "satu kaum" (are we not ashamed of fighting because we're the same race?). I ignored it because I didn't have the energy to spare.

Let me tell you what this guy did next, of all the hypocrisy. He told the policemen to look at his daughter in the car, and asked if they thought he would be driving fast at this rate (to which I thought it helpful to point out to them that he did).

This is the guy who called me a motherfucker as he was getting out of the car, which shows he applies standards very differently for how he drives and how he speaks before this young kid, who was suddenly made a convenient proof for his excellent morality.

I said (shouted) I had no bloody thing to be ashamed about because I wasn't wrong, and that this guy wanted a confrontation, he was getting it. Anyone wants to stare (and starers there were, aplenty), let them see what's happening.

He told the policemen if he hadn't honked, he would have run us over by now (evidently, the inability to avoid obstacles, or pedestrians, is not a sign of driving too fast). He kept pointing an accusing finger at me. I want to say he did it literally, but there was a stump where the first finger of his right hand should be. I don't know what the hell that means he's involved in, but fuck if I give a shit. He's still a bad driver, and still an idiot, and still the one who started all this, and I'll be damned if I'll be cowered.

I don't actually like allowing myself to get angry*, I get uncontrollable reactions that stress me out - I don't mean I fly into uncontrolled attacks, I just get twitches and jerks in my body that make me really want to lash out. Eventually we had our parting shots and left.

*people think I have great self control over anger, because I never seem to lose my temper at friends over some extremely aggravating situations^, but that's because what I had to deal with usually wasn't anger. Friends get the complex hippie shit. It's the strangers that make me have basic reactions like direct anger, and I have remarkably little practice controlling that.

Despite how pissy I sometimes sound on this blog, I'm quite laid back - I do occasionally get irritated, not furious.

^I have also been told this is typical Taurean crap.

----

After that we went to the supermarket to buy alcohol and mixers, for Ding's farewell / post-birthday party later. They had been a bit surprised at my reaction at the driver, Ding said she'd expected me to diss the guy for honking at us just now, serves him right anyway, but she didn't expect me to get angry when he pulled his car over.

By the time we'd walked a few feet away, Ding cracked a joke and whatever tension I had melted away pretty quickly. Plus, grocery shopping is fun.

-----

Came home, cleaned up a bit for the party. Ding made me a Mussolini cocktail (comes in three layers of liquids, if you do it right), which tasted goooood. Anne set about making her jello shots and vodka-in-watermelon. We had some more drinks, then Chitoo came and drove me off to Uptown - Was going to this house two friends of mine recently moved into, for a lil bit of mural painting.

I showed up a bit drunk because those drinks Ding made were like...woah. Potent. It was quite nice there. Very bohemian.

I painted Pacman, but the grid links up in a heart shape (Chitoo calls it the only man in my heart, which I thought was hilarious). I got to name one of the sunflowers my friends had planted from seed (now quite tall).

Lainie: I want to call it Big Boy, but I already know someone with that name. Hrm.

To which they asked if I could think of a name that was less...."Er.....Boy".

Lainie: Okaaaay. Not creepy at all.

So I called it - Giggles. Was told it was quite apt because I giggle (no I do not, dammit).

I later told Chitoo I wish I'd named it Bahak, but that our friends would probably prefer I didn't get a chance to.

-----

Came home just in time for Ding's party. There were cupcakes, friends, and fuckloads of alcohol. A lot of cocktails were being made, and I played Charades for the first time, acting out film titles. I got Transamerica and Oklahoma, which was kinda....The first one involved miming different body parts and the second involved signing out sounds (OK!) - I briefly considered doing some "People will think we're in love" thing, but decided that was taking it a bit too far.

Our team totally aced it, Ding's a movie buff and Koobs knows a lot of obscure movie titles (validity established by stuff like "DVD seller in Taman Tun has it")

Then the next game was evil - where we put some card on our forehead, and there's a communal bowl of alcohol everyone pours into based on what they think are their chances of not drinking. You usually get left with a huge bowl of vodka, different types of whiskeys, rum, tequila, wine, beer and if you're lucky - some cola / sprite, which you then had to finish for the next round to commence.

Ding and I were the only ones who survived the rounds without having to drink any of it (I was veeery lucky), though Annu and Annie got the brunt of it - I did take a few gulps from most of the rounds, out of curiosity. Some left me with a headache pretty immediately. Annu got the nastiest tasting combo, I could smell it even holding it stretched out in front of me.

A LOT of alcohol. Woke up today without a hangover, probably because I sobered up taking care of another drunkard passed out in our house, then took some aspirin before sleeping .

--

Today, I have to go cover the Cammies in Mandarin Oriental and do live updates for the Cammies blog.

Written by lainie at 02:08 PM on May 14, 2008 in work?, Home.

Nicholas - thanks for being photographer! Sorry, I didn't mean for you to stay up late . You don't see it because it's not published yet - I have to resize / caption everything, and that means brushing up pissass facial recognition skills.

Hola, all. The Cammies is over, I have some articles to get up and that's it. That'll be the Cammies for the year.

I just finished working on a website design for a new tv show. It's a blog that will be featured in it. I don't know what the show is called yet - Bernard Chauly (Gol n Gincu, Goodbye Boys) will be directing it. It's based on seduction, and I've been looking at wayyyy too many purple palettes lately.

I can now scratch off something on my todo list - figuring out the Wordpress engine.

Much of what I know about website design is quite basic and self-taught, along with some basic Flash I learned in college. I'm not a codemonkey, I'm a stubborn "I will immediately pick up all skills I need in short spans of time, as and when I need them" person.

I understand this may not be quite based on how reality works, but I figure I'll never know what I need. As opposed to collecting skills, my skill may as well be figuring things out. Selective slacking works for me. That being said, Wordpress always held some of my interest.

Anyway, this website - I resolved to have my design done in two days (halfday for setting up the design, the rest for code). This became three days, partially due to some last minute requests from the company, partially when I found the Wordpress-widgets galore, and most of all, when I opened up the admin page and went "Oh shit, is this PHP?".

I think Edrei was a bit concerned about my ambition when I told him the deadline I set against my inexperience . I did get a bit of a headache spending too much time on the Codex website, and learning through the Kubrick template.

I'm pretty much done now, just tweaking while waiting for them to set up hosting (they're negotiating with some people). I would love it if they had the budget for me to sit down and design a lot more stuff for them, but I suppose that isn't what they need at all.

My housemate Ding, the "B" in the LGBT household, the "N" in the "SLANT" household (I'm the "LA" - and we've had plenty of time to come up with these names) is leaving twice over this week. Once, courtesy of brother, to her new rent-free home. Twice, as she gets to go for a Phuket holiday soon.

This, however, does not disrupt the household acronyms, as we've somehow managed to find a replacement who is both a "B" and "N" as well - so the cheesy puns remain.

As for Tate - we're still waiting for him to discover the severely repressed woman in him. Otherwise, we remain the LGB-Tate household.

Lainie: I'm sure if I squint hard enough, I can imagine you as a woman.

Watched Paris Je T'aime again last night. I'd like to own the DVD. You know what I need now? A party.

Written by lainie at 04:22 PM on May 15, 2008 in work?, Events.

Is there anything as boring as listing out a work schedule for public consumption (unless you're a celebrity with stalkers)?

Thursday night: Finalised website design for tv show - one more round of changes when they finalise their logo / webhost, and that's it.

Friday afternoon: Meeting Bernice for progress report on the KL tourist guidebook we're working on.

Friday night: Finishing up the illustration ad for Disarseter Records - I did something I've not done except in college - show work in progress without the finished product.

To be fair, they gave me the details yesterday (and I came up with three illustration options for them  to choose from - I just need to do typography, copywriting and colours now).

Saturday all day: Gentings. Going for Xlive Music Festival 2008. Have been in contact with a graffiti artist whose work I really admire, when I found out she's coming to Malaysia. No, I don't know what she looks like (yet), stop asking.
Last minute contacting-editor and media-pass scramble when I realised she's with Al-Haca, and they're performing in XLive, and not some KL-friendly venue like Ruums. I'll be at the fest all day - I don't know what she looks / sounds like because my broadband connection is a joke, and I'm pressed for time.

I make it sound like Missy Elliot won't be at Xlive.  Three stages, different themes:

 XLIVE MAIN STAGE

-MISSY ELLIOTT
-ALHACA
-MALIQ & D'ESSENTIALS
-PARKDRIVE
-STYLUSTIKS (DJ SET)
-SPACESHIP FT. GOLDFISH & T-BONE AND POSSE

XL-TRONIC

-YOJI
-FILO & PERI
-MARCUS SCHOSSOW
-GREGOIRE PAGNOUX
-RAYSOO

XLR8

-DAN THE AUTOMATOR
-B4C
-LAPSAP
-GOODNIGHT ELECTRIC
-TWILIGHT ACTIONGIRL

XLive should be fun - a lot of the usual suspects will / should be there. Twilight Action Girl, Lapsap, Sarchan, Kevin, Zack, Meesh (trying to get her to agree anyway). I have two media passes, and it makes more sense for me to go with another journo.

I know you guys think I'm going for Lapsap/ TAG (who'll blame you?), but I really want to catch Missy Elliot, Parkdrive and Al-Haca. Mainstage.

Tonight / Friday night / Sunday night: Finish up Kakiseni articles. Meh. Meh.

So. Er. Yes. Busy. Lacking updates on personal life because personal life not really happening.

Saturday night recommendation: If you can't make it for XLive, there's the French dance performance (one night only, it seems): Aduna terre l'avventure

Written by lainie at 02:03 PM on May 16, 2008 in Daily Life.

I had some pretty good Teochew-Singaporean style seafood noodles recently, at Kedai Makanan Teow Chew in Damansara Jaya. It's a small coffeeshop, the kind where the surroundings are noisier than the patrons, and I always expect a frizzy-haired mother to be having dinner with her two kids (in school uniform, of course).

I digress.

Must try: The fishcakes. Fried just right - no oily aftertaste. A very thin, crisp layer on top, and gooooood, bouncy fishcakes just beneath. The texture is great.

Pomfret noodles!

I prefer the pomfret fish noodles to the fishball noodles.  Soup was light and clear, with some chinese coriander, pickled veg and seaweed. For those who can't take fishy food, this restaurant's safe for you - very fresh ingredients the few times I've been there. A selection of noodles to choose from - my eyes lit up at the mee sua option, so I had that. Every. Time. .

Cost:
Fishcakes about RM5
Fishball noodles about RM4
Pomfret noodles about RM15.

It's 2pm, I've not eaten anything, I don't know why I'm blogging about food cause I'm getting kinda lightheaded. Kinda do it to myself, don't I?

Kedai Makanan Teow Chew

Add: 10, Jalan SS22/21, Damansara Jaya (besides Atria, behind 7-11). Tel: 03 7725 9139

Okay, I'm off to raid the fridge.

Written by lainie at 04:46 PM on May 16, 2008 in Rants, Friends.

Do you remember this post a while ago? : I will not like it if your website host is Exabytes.

It started when Exabytes emailed their new policy (which sweepingly discriminates against all LGBT content) to their clients, including some concerned friends of mine - very informed people from the Voices MMU alumni (debaters - very noisy, very opiniated, usually hilarious and armed with a list of dodgy cocktail recipes).

If you haven't read that post, start there - read the comments (reasons I love Meesh, Example #30kj18315). The CEO of Exabytes left a comment too.

Now, coming up will be a humongously long post. If you want to choose what you read, these are the names to look out for:

Ben, Rafil: Funny emails.

Gordon Lim Chee Keong: Standin up for freedom of speech.

Elizabeth Wong: enquiring further.

Jac SM Kee: (a few emails towards the end of post) - a more in-depth and informed look into the policy's flaws.

Ready? Here we go!

I sent Rafil of Disarseter an email (I'm also designing their advertising, and about to do their website, guess where I won't want it hosted). This is Rafil's email that made my day:

Dear Mr/Ms Ooi/Chan (admin@exabytes.com),

I am Rafil Elyas, President of Disarseter Records Sdn Bhd, one of your NOTABLE CLIENTS (http://www.exabytes.com.my/about/clients/notableclients.html). In addition to Disarseter Records, I also have my East101 Oil and Gas website on your server.

Someone wrote in to complain about my websites being hosted by your company - with the new NO HOMO policy – can you believe that?

Barsket!

“dude. your webhosting company - not cool.” -  some homo.

I believe the above posting was a response to your email below:

“We are regret to inform you that any content (eg: blog, LGBT-friendly establishments, lifestyle or events, clubs, restaurants, cafes, anecdotes, meetups) related to gay and lesbian (homosexual) will be prohibited to be hosted in our server.

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact. Thank You!

Ooi PY
--------------------
Customer Service Manager
Exa Bytes Network Sdn Bhd”

I have a question concerning that policy.

But first, I want to congratulate Exabytes for taking this stand!

I’m tried of seeing homo, left wing, liberal, vegan, tree hugging, anti hydrocarbon processing, anti-Ketuanan Melayu sites pop up like mushrooms. We need to curb all these evil liberals.

We need more people like you, Ooi PY, and Chan Kee Siak, people who see these devils for what they truly are.

I believe you understand everyone has their place and rights. We can’t simply be allowing them to spread their homo mind memes on the internet.

Only fools believe everyone should be treated the same and be accorded the same rights (you know, some Malaysian Chinese people even believe they should have the same rights as Malays? Can you believe such a thing in this day and age?).

You show them!

If we can’t exclude people based on their sexual preference, religion or race, then what will become of our society? How do we keep the riff raff in check?

Homos can’t have the same rights, or access to server space for their content as heteros. Period.

Your decision to ban homo content has (social) scientific backing.

As you and I have been taught by our schools, the Biro Tata Negara, Mufti Perak, ZAM,  Malaysia’s leaders, UMNO and Utusan Melayu, the Malaysian social strata (from most to least important) is as follows (server space priority should really be based on this!):

LIST 1

a)    Malay Muslims (e.g., me)

b)    Arab or Caucasian Muslims – refugees or expats (from Bosnia, etc)

c)    Caucasian, non muslim consultants/expats

d)    Bumiputra (may be non muslim)

e)    Non Malay non Muslims (E.g., you, Ooi and Chan)

f)     Criminals and opposition bloggers

Homosexuals are not even recognized!

How to give server space?

Kick the buggers (literally) off!

People say prejudice is bad…but in some cases it’s good and necessary for nation (and network) building and stability, like India’s old caste system.

If our esteemed leaders, Hishammuddin is prejudiced against Chinese, Jamaluddin Jaris is prejudiced against Indians, then there should be no problem if Exabytes is prejudiced against homos and refuses them server space for their content.

I give another example, if Federal Govt want to give contract, must be to Malay BN supporter, first, right (see LIST 1 above)? If you want to provide space for content, sure must give to heterosexuals (men who like women, and women who like men) only, right? How to give to homo to put content, they are not even on list (see LIST 1 above)?

All must know their place!

I am sure Ooi and Chan, you are grateful that my forefathers allowed your forefathers to stay in Malaysia after independence as long as they (and you) knew their place and would not challenge our Malay superiority or rights, and you accept that you will never be equal to us (you’re 4 levels below me in terms of status and preference in this country, see LIST 1 above) …why can’t the homos just be as thankful and defer to the greater good, like you defer to us (and don’t question NEP, for example)?

They should stay in their closets!

And be thankful that we let them breathe the same air as us and that we don’t simply them in our excellent Malaysian Express buses driven by a meth head driver with 100 summonses and “send them all to Singapore”?

SYABAS SAUDARA OOI DAN CHAN!!!

YOU ARE PATRIOTS!!!!

****

Anyway, I’d like to clarify if it’s OK to publish ANTI Homosexual content? I wasn’t sure if ANTI homosexual content was allowed.

For example, we have artists under our label who are vehemently (vehemently means VERY) ANTI HOMOSEXUAL. One of those artists is the very famous Malaysian NEP blues/folk punk duo Panda Head Curry?.

They are so ANTI HOMOSEXUAL they will not even use Macintosh computers or watch programs like Chef Wan’s Favorite Maggie Recipes.

Before we allow their ANTI HOMOSEXUAL content, I wanted to check if it’s OK.

Their content will address issues like:

a)    Why homos are bad and should not be allowed to create websites with homo content

b)    Homos are different, how to spot and avoid them – if they attack, sure you kena homo.

c)    If you like to ride LRT and Monorail, are you homo?

d)    Trying to find cures for homos, focusing on lobotomies, electroshock treatment and Vitamin C therapies.

e)    Why will God send all homos and Enya fans to Hell?

I await your advice.

Yours,

Rafil Elyas

President, Disarseter Records Sdn Bhd

Rafil told me Exabytes replied, approving of anti-homosexual content. I should ask him for that email. Anyway, next up were some replies from other people in the list Rafil had forwarded it to. First to reply was Elizabeth Wong, state assembly person for Bukit Lanjan, Selangor (her blog's cooler).

Dear Ooi,

The next email came from CK (Gordon Lim Chee Keong), of punk band Ben's Bitches:

Dear Mr/Ms Ooi/Chan,

As a true Malaysian who favors freedom of speech, I am absolutely disappointed with your company policy that disallow contents of Pro-Homo and Homophobics to pour out their view on the web. Your policy is eroding our sense of judgment of what can be said and what can't be said. With such policy, you're practically creating homosexual as a taboo in the country.

Internet is a space for international community, and with that, you should do your part to open up issues of international community which involved homosexuals. Everybody have their rights to say what they want; who are you to judge them?

I strongly protest against such policy. I call for a boycott against any webhosting companies that does not favor freedom of speech.

Disappointed,
Gordon Lim Chee Keong

From: admin@exabytes.com

Hello Gordon Lim，

Thank you for writing in.

For your information, it was in our Acceptable Use Policy that Adult content shall not be allowed to be hosted in our server.

Why does Exabytes have this policy?

Bandwidth and Resources
A virtual server is a shared environment where many servers reside on each particular machine. This being said, consider that an average "adult site" gets more hits than 100 standard web sites. Some of the smaller adult sites get around 5 GB of transfer per day. With these types of resources being utilized, our servers would be severely slowed if we allowed these high traffic sites to also reside on our servers. On top of that, we would be forced to raise our prices to pay for the additional bandwidth. We strive to keep our servers fast and inexpensive, and our bandwidth clear; therefore, adult sites are not an option.

Banned IPs
Adult sites tend to get blocked. Since many of our shared accounts also share IP addresses and/or the range of IPs are blocked, all other users on that server or network range are impacted.

Association
Many people do not want to be associated with adult content, based on personal opinions and beliefs. IPs are assigned to a server in ranges and IP address are in many cases shared IPs. Consequently, we want our shared servers to be ‘adult content’ free.

More details about our AUP on Adult Content can be found from the below URL:

http://www.exabytes.com.my/about/legal/aup/#H-adult

We are sorry if by enforcing this policy caused any inconveniences to you in anyway.

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact. Thank You!

Ooi PY
--------------------
Customer Service Manager
Exa Bytes Network Sdn Bhd

Web: http://www.exabytes.com | http://www.exabytes.com.my
Helpdesk: http://support.exabytes.com

Dear Mr Ooi,
 
I find it amusing that Exabytes, being an rather well known name for Webhosting service; is constrained to limitation of Adult contents.
I understand that with high traffics, more resources would be required to support the bandwidth. However, your justification on Adult content has nothing to do with the issues of Homosexuality.
 
Legally, when you've engaged a client, as a full contract being enforced, you're abided to discharge your obligation to provide the services that you had given. Having a short notice; whilst acknowledging your unavailability to host Homosexuality (not Adult) subjects is not part of the deal. With this, you still owe your duty to service your client reasonably.
 
Having said that Adult contents drive higher bandwidth, I totally disagree with this. The amount of traffic entries are based on the popularity of the site, and has absolutely nothing to do with Adult contents. Furthermore, Homosexuality issues are not really exploited to drive such popularity on the web. I'm more inclined to see your policy removal on the subject of Homosexuality.
 
What exactly do you filter on HOMOSEXUALITY? The words "Homosexual, Gay, Lesbian, Intergender Relationship, Fagot, Bapuk" filtered from your server(if the words got thru your email, what's the worse if can do to your server?" ?????? How exactly are these words oriented as Adult contents? Don't you need to tell your children/nieces/grandsons when you see a Gay or Lesbian that they are Gay/Lesbian?? What do you call them in more children-friendly words?
 
What exactly is adult contents to you? Naked babies on Johnson and Johnson's Baby Shampoo advertisement is R-rated to you?
 
There shouldn't be any limitation placed on internet. It is not bounded by the country, hence, you're not entitled to restrict anyone to place adult contents- especially Homosexual subjects (if that's adult contents to you).
 
I personally hope that your 'esteemed' webhosting services would continue to pursue freedom of contents/writing for everyone. Not just to a particular group of clients, but to the entire world population. You owe a duty of care to the world for freedom of speech. By breaching this duty of care, you're denying anyone to speak freely. Ultimately, when education is in concern, you're negligently denying anyone a chance to be educated; even by adult contents.
 
Homosexuals have their rights too. Who are you to deny their rights to speak freely?
 
I need you to explain to the public regarding your policy. You owe a duty to apologize publicly not only to your clients, but also public internet users and Homosexuals on your discriminatory policies.
 
Please act accordingly. Thank You.
 
Regards,
Gordon Lim C.K.
 
Entrepreneur
 

Following that, Ben who heads, of course, Ben's Bitches (and is Rafil's bandmate in PandaHeadCurry):

Dear Mr Ooi and Ms Chan

I am a proud herosexual (that's right, hero and not heterosexual).

I would just like to say that in reality, homos and homophobes such as superstar carpet-munching blogger Lainie Yeoh and evil oil & gas manboar Rafil Elyas do actually get along very well and even give each other friendly headbutts on certain occasions.

So what's the big deal? We should concentrate our efforts on eradicating the real threat to the peace and harmony of the human race..... Barack Obama. This swine is a direct descendant of Loki, the God of Mischief and if he were to become President of the US of A-holes, then we can all look forward to a hell on earth of biblical proportions.

Chocolate dip anyone?

Ben Liew
Subang Jaya Herosexual

Now I don't have all the replies from Exabytes for two reasons. They don't reply to everyone (mine is still unattended to), and instead of "reply to all", they've been replying individually, so we're blindsided from their answers. (CK forwarded me his).

Jac SM Kee has also been in contact with Exabytes:

Without prejudice

Mr Chan, Mr Ooi and whomever else it may concern,

As you are aware of, your email and policy regarding restriction of "adult content" in your web hosting services have received some publicity and notoriety in various civil society and concerned citizen communities.

I am writing as an individual, likewise concerned citizen as well as advocate of communication rights, particularly in ICT.
Your policy puzzles me on several accounts. Although I can appreciate your worries about bandwidth limitations and blocked IPs, I fail to understand your logic in conflating adult content with content related to "gays and lesbians". On your website, the policy does not specifically mention lesbian, gay, or any other form of diverse sexualities materials (henceforth referred to as LGBT) as constitutive of "adult content". Yet in your explanation, this is reiterated over and over again (see your emails appended below).

As mentioned to you by several other concerned civil society members, this irrevocably constitutes a form of discrimination; in national laws, the constitution as well as in universal human rights standards and conventions. By specifying a particular community and all activities, issues, forms of expression and communication as being prohibited, you are placing Exa Bytes as a sudden, unaccountable, and I am sorry to say, illegitimate arbiter, judge and gatekeeper of what kind of information is available and enabled through the internet.

There are multiple and extremely diverse forms of content related to LGBT materials. You yourself are aware of this by explicitly citing several examples. Kindly explain how "LGBT-friendly establishments, lifestyle or events, clubs, restaurants, cafes, anecdotes, meetups" is taken to mean the following:

    * Any site whose revenue is gained in part or whole from its adult content.
    * Photos or videos showing frontal nudity on either men or women for non-scientific or non-artistic purposes.
    * Hyperlinks to adult sites, including but not limited to sites who violate these policies.
    * Sites that have discussion boards and share information that is ‘adult’ in nature.
    * Sites that sell or promote ‘adult’ material, including but not limited to adult toys.

Specifically, it would be beneficial if you can articulate what you mean by "adult" in nature and in material. Do you mean anything that expressly and directly speaks about sexual intercourse, or mentions the penis, vagina or any other sexual and reproductive organs? If so, will you also prohibit websites by non-governmental organisations that works on women's sexual and reproductive health issues, such as the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (http://www.arrow.org.my/) and Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)?

By your own lack of clarity, and by arbitrarily clumping diverse content related to sexuality - from health, to behaviour, to community, to identity, to networking, to lifestyle to etc - into one convenient category of "adult content", you are putting yourself in a highly risky position.

I appreciate the fact that as a private profit-driven company, there are certain objectives you need to meet, and affirming fundamental civil rights is in great probability, not part of your project. However, I need to remind you that private companies are also subjected to the rule of law, and the rule of law is circumscribed through the collective acknowledgment and affirmation of the boundaries of individual and societal rights.

Many private sector companies are one of the negotiating stakeholders in global policy agendas around content regulation of the internet. For example, Microsoft is very active and present in policy platforms and processes such as the World Summit on Information Society and the Internet Governance Forum. However, they present their case through sound arguments, empirical data, and due consideration to the impact on the rights to expression, information, association and so on. And through intensive dialogue with other stakeholders like civil society (or in your case, consumers/clients/customers) and the government.

I would urge you to do the same. Do not assume that everyone will agree with you that LGBT related content is synonymous with pornography - this is not only erroneous, it is an overt form of discrimination. And do not make broad stroke moral assertions that "Many people do not want to be associated with adult content, based on personal opinions and beliefs" without first even adequately defining what you mean by "adult content", and without conducting appropriate processes to confirm that this is indeed the collective value and priority of your intended audience.

Looking forward to your response.

With regards,
Jac sm Kee

Hello Jac,

Thank you for your feedback.

We have being practising No Adult Content Policy since the first day we run our hosting business. However, due to numbers of web sites hosted by us, we might have overlooked sometime. Therefore, we have just send out reminder to our client on this.

You may refer to our annocement here:
https://support.exabytes.com/index.php?_m=news&_a=viewnews&newsid=370

We do not mean to discriminate gay and lesbian at any attempt. We are only giving some example on what are considered as adult content for reference for our client to avoid confusion. But this has somehow create more confusion especially on the topic of gay and lesbian.

Exabytes as a responsible Malaysia based web hosting company, we only can host and support web sites which are legal and not violating any Malaysia’s laws.

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact. Thank You!

Ooi PY
--------------------
Customer Service Manager
Exa Bytes Network Sdn Bhd

Web: http://www.exabytes.com | http://www.exabytes.com.my
Helpdesk: http://support.exabytes.com

Hello Ooi,

It seems like you missed the point in my previous email. So let me try again in simpler and briefer terms.

Why is every single material related to gays and lesbians considered adult content?

And Ooi, by prohibiting gay and lesbian content as adult content without  reasonable and acceptable justifications, you do mean to discriminate gays and lesbians, and you have.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards,
Jac sm Kee

Hello Jac,

Thank you for your further clarifications. Your feedbacks are valuable to us.

Certainly we will reconsider and review our terms and conditions and make it as clearer as possible and avoid any vague, as well as any terms which sounds discriminating to "gay and lesbian". I will seek further advice from my lawyer.

Once again, thank you and the community for providing the feedbacks and helpful information.

Hello Chan,

Thank you for your commitment to review the terms and conditions of Exabytes. I would urge that in your review:

* to strongly reconsider Exabytes role and responsibility as a gatekeeper of acceptable content through prohibition and remove your limitations;

However, if you still decide to enforce limitations:

* to be highly aware of and avoid any attempts to name specific communities or groups, especially already disadvantaged groups
* to explicitly clarify, define and state what you mean by "adult content", and what would fall within this purview (e.g. if pornographic, say pornographic and what pornographic means);
* to fully understand your legal role and responsibility for implementing such a condition;
* to clearly explain your reasons and justifications, including supporting evidence from your constituents/clients/audience;
* to clearly state review process - who is involved in deciding if a particular site falls within "adult content", when and how this limitation will be reconsidered, and so on.

I would appreciate it if you inform me of any changes in your TOR in the future.

Thank you.

Regards,
Jac sm Kee

The GenderGenres mailing list has also picked up on this issue, and some are going to boycott Exabytes as a result. Certain other members of organisations (eg: IWRAW and CIJ Malaysia) have been made aware of this. Need I really mention I'm going to be keeping an eye on this?

It took Exabytes that long to realise that if they'd been deflecting blame onto Malaysian law, they should at least consult their lawyer?

Other blogs that have discussed the Exabytes issue:

Sashi-isms: Exabytes: Should I go back?

Naoko (Broken Shield and Sword): Exabytes: Good Prod, Bad Language?

This is a long post, much love to you if you've read this far. I have just a bit more for you:

Alternative webhosts to Exabytes:

IPServerOne

Integricity

e-Ruang.com

IP Network Connections

If you know of a decent webhost whose name is not Exabytes, now's the time to pimp it.

No webhost is without its criticisms, including Exabytes (and I'm not just talking about this LGBT discrimination issue either). These were some alternatives suggested to me, feel free to browse for one who meets your conditions.

This was actually supposed to be a post to show Joyce the Kinkybluefairy's new project, Tongue in Chic, some love. Next time then. Siao punye Exabytes and their discriminations.

Technorati tags: lgbt, policy, queer, gay, discrimination, censorship, internet, homophobia, malaysia,

Written by lainie at 01:10 AM on May 19, 2008.

Hola. How you doing? I've a recommendation for ya. You need to watch this film (available on Bittorrent, or with dodgy subtitles at your local friendly pirates today, arrrr):

For The Bible Tells Me So.

Greatly likeable documentary on how the bible has been used to bash non-hetero forms of sexuality (focus: gay and lesbian), especially based on scripture.

This was primarily a study of:

i) how conservative Christian families deal with religion & queer family members
ii) how scriptures had been quoted out of context to justify the opinion that homosexuality is "unnatural" and an "abomination". Usual suspects include Sodom and Gomorrah, Leviticus.
iii) the effects of this misinterpretation of the bible - on gay people, those who cannot reconcile the teachings on love with the anti-homosexuality stance (say "love the sinner, hate the sin", and I will smack you - I'm not as nice as the director of this film).
iv) what the scriptures actually say when read in context.

This is not: A bashing of gay-bashers. It refutes their gay-bashing arguments (quite well - always helps that rebuttals aren't a part of the documentary). It humanises the reactions.

Interesting: They point out the studies on the scriptures they cite are not apologist readings of the bible, released in the past few years to counter the increasing homophobia by bible-thumpers. These are studies that have existed hundreds of years - especially the one on Sodom and Gomorrah not being about punishing a city of gay people.

Choice: Emphasis is placed on the fact that sexuality is not a lifestyle choice. My take is that people are free to choose, and be, with whoever they want. Whether sexuality is genetic, conditioned or chosen - it is not my place to judge.

Recognisable faces: Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson, who is gay, and his family. Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of Richard Gephardt (former American House Majority Leader). I'm not sure what she actually does, besides be lesbian and a politician's daughter.

Fortunately / Unfortunately / Unintended Consequence: It's a very intelligent, healing look at the issue. Also extremely emotional, and relies on showing strong family ties - will definitely attract accusations of not making arguments so much as resorting to pathos. This is untrue, but some breeds of haters are exceptionally predictable.
 
Me: I am not well-versed on bible stuff - heck, I'm atheist. I don't expect visiting Canadians to have extensive background knowledge of dangdut. I prefer the reading in this documentary's version - which is kinder on the queer community. Merit wise, I'm not the one to qualify it - but as a layperson, it seems plausible enough.

Caution: This is *my* blog. I'm a blur wanker. Watch this film yourself, don't cite me.

Accolades! Awards! Fame!: For the Bible Tells Me So was in the documentary feature Oscar shortlist this year, but did not make the final list of five nominated films. It did however win many other awards, including the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2007.

If you liked this: Scout's Honor is also a documentary on gay issues in America - dealing specifically with the Boy Scouts of America's policy to openly exclude gay members.

Steven Cozza (Scouting for All) of Scout's Honor reminds me of Jake Reitan (Right to Serve) from For the Bible.
Can someone send the Boy Scouts of America a copy of For the Bible Tells Me So, please?

Question: Do any of these people blog?

For the Bible online resources:
You can read the Cinematical review of it here.

View it's official website.

Watch the trailer on Youtube.

This is the kind of film that a queer person would watch and I can imagine them just wishing their family would, too.
Who I think should watch it: Anyone who's under the impression the Bible is against homosexuality. You've heard that side, now hear this one.

This isn't the endall of readings into these scriptures (I doubt there will ever be one), but it's a pretty good start. I'm guessing the average person isn't keen on a 3-year intensive study into the bible, yeah? So as far as documentaries go, this is it. This works better as a dvd to pass along, that it does a 3am conversation on religion.

Personally, I found it a great watch.

By the way, this documentary made me cry like a bitch. Don't press play in front of people you'll like to maintain dignity around.

[ backdated post - just found this ]

--

Working in Bernice's place. I slept through three alarms today, I don't know how. I didn't set it super early, but I suppose 9.30am is, for me - I came back from Genting tired, and I've not had an opportunity to rest so far.

Everytime we talk about my being single, I complain that Bernice doesn't introduce me to lesbians, and she wigs out that she doesn't know any except those I already do.

Written by lainie at 01:54 PM on May 19, 2008.

The Annexe @ Central Market finally has its own blog.

Visit it at Annexe, Central Market (whaddya mean, only 200 visitors so far?)

Written by lainie at 10:51 PM on May 19, 2008 in work?, Arty stuff.

A few days ago, I did some sketches to let the Disarseter boys have an idea on what I wanted to do for their illustrated ad - pressed for time, I was thinking of ideas while I peed. Sorry, was that too much info?.

Hence! Pee and toilet-related sketches.

all my characters drawn on automode tend to have the same sort of visual appeal. or, end up looking like Dragonball knockoffs.

This sketching style is most directly related to when I am short of time - Simple lines because my scanner doesn't get pencils very well, so I have to trace over it with a black pen (not to be mistaken with the art of inking comics).

I'll upload the final version next time. If Disarseter sounds familiar to you, it's because they were mentioned recently in my first and second Exabytes post. The final advert that I've done so far for Disarseter....references.... the Exabytes issue, a bit of a wink wink.

I'm not doing it to be clever, just most of my ideas are plucked from things happening around me. And complaining about Exabytes / peeing (not simultaneously) happened to be what I was doing around that time.

Meanwhile, I've started working with Bernice everyday on the KL Insight Guides thing (she's got an ultra geeky big piece of brown paper stuck on her living room wall, with our schedule laid out).

Writing a travel guide makes me wonder how best to tactfully inform tourists of dodgy things to watch out for, without it sounding deeply unflattering about Malaysia. It's iffy.

And it's hard to stay serious when Bernice talks in a sing-song Hong Kong accent because she thinks it's funny (and it is, very much so).

Written by lainie at 12:07 PM on May 23, 2008.

I feel like a grasshopper in an ant's world today. Heading to work soon.

Written by lainie at 01:35 PM on May 25, 2008.

So, we've not started on the restaurant section of the guidebook yet, but I figured I should ask now*. Does anyone know where to get Sabahan / Sarawakian food in Kuala Lumpur - I am sorry but I am not referring to kolo mee, of which most KL varieties are inadequate on the delicious scale

Let's start with Kadazan cuisine. Any restaurants / stalls / cafes / whatnot in Kuala Lumpur? It doesn't have to be entirely dedicated to the cuisine, just a few of the usual fish / sago dishes would do. If you know some place that sells even more than that, better still.

I can tell this is gonna be a bit of a bitch, huh?

*because I won't mind going myself either.

Random language wankery: If I called someone "homosexist", what would you think that means? Cause I coin* words all the time, and they make perfect sense to me - but I've long realised my paradigm doesn't necessarily apply to everyone (heck, anyone).

*The word homosexist most likely exists out there, so don't Google just yet. This isn't about being right, it's about what impression it would give you if I said "homosexist",because I'm curious.

Working on a Sunday in Bernice's home, accompanied by an adorable, pesky puppy called Luca. Considering most Sunday workplaces, I think I've got it pretty damn good.

Looking forward to dinner tonight with mother, cousins (Zen's belated birthday dinner) and extended family in Checkers (Bukit Damansara), a great restaurant I've not been to in ages. I don't know what we're getting tonight, but I like everything on the menu (meat, pasta, paella - goooood).

It's also the best restaurant for unintended humour - It's a cozy restaurant, and if someone calls and no one picks up the phone, the unsuspecting new diner's voice usually ends up being boomed out to the rest of the patrons via the answering machine; usually, in a variety of accents that take on a humorous effect when played very, very loudly:

 HALLO? CALL TO CEK RESELASHEN. IZZIT HALAL AH? WHERE I TURN LEF? I DRIVING NOW. WHICH TRAFFIC LAIT?

Especially when they show up speaking decent English, looking dignified, proper, etc. Then twenty minutes into their dinner, the next caller gets the answering machine, and all the other diners are quietly giggling into their food, trying not to get caught staring at their horrified expressions.

[ note: It is very mean to bring anyone vegetarian / muslim / pork-averse to Checkers ]

Sedih. My mother just sent me an sms: "Checker chup lup, dinner elsewhere".

Chup lup basically means to go bankrupt, or to close shop. Sedih. SEDIH . It's okay, there's still El Cerdo's to hold up the fort for pork dishes.

Written by lainie at 06:42 PM on May 26, 2008 in work?.

Working within close proximity of each other 6 days a week is taking its toll on the both of us. Bernice made a weird "bleck" sound, and I caught myself speaking in a loud, Hong Kong accent to break the mindnumbing effect of writing about KL everyday. I'm guzzling my way through Bernice's stash of coffee.

We have to seriously fucking celebrate after this. If I don't lose a kidney in the celebrations, we're not done yet.

I'm writing the bar section now, which I consider apt research for that day (she's doing architecture). How do I balance the word count against upcoming bars that have not stood the test of time, and the older ones that are waning in popularity but still considered a default in lists of bars for KL? I'm for newer experiences.

The iffiest section for me will be the LGBT section. Attic is a great bar for lesbians, but so far we only have it under "Bars". We don't have the space for double entries, but that also means great restaurants like Cafe Cafe risk ending up in just one section - LGBT. Given a choice, I'd rather put it under "Restaurants", and cross-reference it from the LGBT section. I mean, if those big MSG-laden Chinese cuisine restaurants are gonna make it into the list (and I think they will).....I had a point, but I forgot it.

We haven't really worked out a system yet. Then again, I doubt the Restaurant section will be doing too badly -  Bernice is a food reviewer, and I'm....enthusiastic.

I'm nervous about writing about Asian Heritage Row - I generally am there for special event nights, and may not have the most accurate representation of the regular crowd in my head. That, and having written about the area for another travel guide, I don't want to give them almost identical copies.

I'm the kind of person who apparently has the same reactions and words for certain situations, when I can't remember them, without a sense of deja vu. Can you imagine how I'm worried about this?

Am on my fourth(?) cup of coffee. Bernice's daughter said this: It's so cool. She used to be your teacher, and you used to be her student. And now..

Lainie: And now, we're equally stressed.

She visited last night, and left me with a present. A limited edition huge bottle of Heineken. More to come, apparently. Awesomes

Written by lainie at 11:42 AM on May 27, 2008 in Holidays / Road Trip, Events, Arty stuff.

Over the past weekend, I went to watch Al-Haca, from Brazil, perform again in Palate Palette. They have good music, makes me wish it was one of those nights where my body was moving to the music effortlessly, and all the lights are brighter, and I didn't just spend a few continuous hours working my butt off. The crowd was sparse when I arrived (less than 10), and didn't get much heavier duration I stayed.

Didn't really meet many people, I was already there with Tate and Dani. I did, however, see my uncle and aunt amidst the few people there. I don't actually know them (wasn't even sure that was his wife), but my uncle looks exactly like allllllll his male cousins, which makes him easy for me to recognise everytime.

I think I've been so hardcore-trained by my mother to "call" (ie: greet) my older relatives at all those family functions, then describe my lineage (because big family, they never really know which woodworks we emerged from), that it makes me feel really unsettled to see an uncle I recognise and not go up to say hi. Somehow, this has transferred to cafe settings.

That being said, poor dude's not even that much older than me, and he gets called an uncle .

You can watch a grainy video of that night on Fefe's Youtube (I'd already left by then). They also have a Myspace account, if you want to hear their music.

Then Ding arrived, and by midnight it was time for Loft. Ah, Loft on a Friday night is always good. Went in time to catch some of Kelvin's set, which made me happy.

Saturday:

I had a good Saturday. I returned to Sarang Murai with a bunch of friends. It's a restaurant in the jungle - a drive out to Hulu Langat, near Gabai waterfalls, for some gooood Malay cuisine. I actually want to try out her cous cous menu, but besides Adri and I, the others were first timers, so Malay cuisine menu it is!

Adri and I actually met in Sarang Murai, and that was also the first time I'd ever talked to Ding (on the phone). You can read Adri's accounts on Popagandhi.com:

2007 Five Best Travel and Eating Moments

Adventures Without Purpose

We were invited into Aunty Rosnah's home. She's done so much, including design the gorgeous house she stays in. Combining her stories this time with the first I went, on the formation of this home - she's one remarkable person, and I have much admiration for her energy (even as she chuckles about skeletons in her closet).

After Sarang Murai it was off to Pecha Kucha. I love Mun Kao's work.

The first presenter up is indirectly responsible for the late blog post. Basically, the content of his slideshow was unremarkably sexist. Like sexist gila babi okay. This is Annexe's art crowd yeah, and call it a bias, but if I were presenting to people on British Council's mailing list, I'd have good cause to expect a fair few to be quite aware of gender / sexuality issues.

People were booing him off, and I never realised how many people know I write for Kakiseni till those sitting near me started tapping me on my shoulders and asking if I would please write about it. I haven't, and most likely will not, because I watched the slideshow and immediately suspected the presenter had help putting it together, from my friend who works for him.

I confirmed it today - I was right. I've been talking with him about it, and this sounds like I'm his therapist or something, but really it's just been.......Well. Basically the entire company had been involved in the presentation, and they saw it as hilarious, but it just ended up offending a lot of people.

What are the effects of Pecha Kucha? My favourite presentation was MunKao's Ultraman / Godzilla work. He will also be exhibiting in the upcoming show Out of Line at the Annexe.

I know people (including designers) who will in the future boycott all the works and events of the "sexist presenter" - this unfortunately, includes 2  potential buyers of MunKao's work in Annexe tomorrow, who are now very reluctant to purchase his pieces because they found a link between him and the presenter. I doubt they will now.

I got a preview of the show as I was there watching them set up, and I love MunKao's pieces. I also googled MunKao's connection with this company, and it seems he was involved in an event these presenters once organised. The link is tenuous to me, I'd have no qualms about making a purchase based on that information.

Still. I don't expect them to have all the time in the world to check up on these things (though I have mentioned it to one of them), and I guess impulsive shopping for art is hindered by these unpretty assoiations. I think Mun Kao's blameless, just a casualty in this scene. That being said, I have no doubt his works will sell.

My friend is quite perplexed that people were so offended by the presentation he helped prepare. Sure it was sexist, but it was funny right? Hahaha?

Sigh. People were booing him through his preso for a reason. This is Annexe. The band Hujan is banned from returning to that venue for anti-homosexual statements in a gig. This was a case of failed humour at the wrong crowd, wrong place, wrong subject.

Went to Market Place for gay night.

Had been comparing sketchbooks with Ding, when the bunch of girls we were with dragged us there. I was supposed to go to Tei's house for a steamboat dinner, but was too late, so she told me she'd meet me there anyway.

Anyway, rejoice rejoice! A swanky looking queer nightclub! Reckon you should go. Entering before 11am prevents cover charge, I think.

Tei had to remind me that I'd been there with a lot of lesbian friends, many years ago, for an event called Girl Pride Asia. This was when it was still called Metro Lounge. There had been lots of lipstick lesbians there, some random dude asked us for Aramin / Eramin / whatever, another invited us for a drug-filled afterparty.

Let's just say we never went back.

Since then, it's mostly been work at Bernice's place, followed by a visit to the hospital because Rachel has a high fever (and possibly, dengue).

I don't have much more time to type, so I end with an advert for Disarseter.com that did not go through (you can see sketches here). This is a typo study I was messing about with, before I went for something cleaner.

I called it off the next morning because I realised (when the alcohol was out of my system) how gay it was.

Context: herosexual is a slang for queer people. Which isn't so much wrong as inaccurate for Disarseter. Person peeing who may or may not be biologically female.

We changed the copy, and eventually the layout (because Ben told me after everything was done that it was landscape, not portrait @#$%fulat).

To be fair to my very gay self, Ben didn't realise how gay this version was either, till I pointed it out. Smile, on the other hand, has no idea how somethin like this can happen by accident.

Written by lainie at 03:50 PM on May 29, 2008 in work?, Friends, Events.

Helping Bernice with listing the fashion section (and architecture, and children, and bars, and music, and nightlife) today.Because I draw strange looks just by having Tongue in Cheek open on my browser, I've gotten Joyce to help me suggest shops for visiting fashionistas.

I wouldn't want to think what'd happen to the poor tourists otherwise, if they were wholly reliant on my suggestions.

Rach has dengue. Poor baby. She's gonna be exhausted for some time, but I don't think she knows it yet. Most of the time when we're talking she's mentioning the clubs she to party in, the exhibitions she wants to visit. She's one of my Energizer bunny friends, but I think dengue's a bit powerful .

There's gonna be a cool exhibition tonight: OUT OF LINE: Doodles & Dreamscapes

I've seen the work that'll be on display tonight, and highly recommend you go. There'll be a ballpoint pen competition too, 16 uber-cool tshirts to collect.

Written by lainie at 02:12 PM on May 30, 2008.

I got this in my email recently. YAY. LONG OVERDUE!:

Hey Guys! This is Nicole, formerly from Rhapsody.

 

No, it's not a Rhapsody update! But I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm part of a new band called "Layan Sound System".

 

And nope, we don't do jazz! But Reggae with a lot of funk and soul... Anyway, our first gigs are coming up in June!

 

1. Thursday, June 12 2008

MOONSHINE @ Laundry

laundrybar.blogspot.com / bar.laundry@gmail.com

 

2. Tuesday, June 17 2008

Timeout KL Musician Series @ No Black Tie

No Black Tie 17 Jalan Mesui Kuala Lumpur +603 2142 3737 noblacktie@gmail.com.

 

If you'd like receive updates on Layan Sound System, please email

 

layansoundsystem@gmail.com  with the subject heading "I WANNA BE ON THE MAILING LIST"

 

Hope to see some familiar faces at Laundry and No Black Tie in June!

Nicole!

 

p.s. Just in case you're wondering, Ywenna now plays with "Tokyo Blue", and you can find her most Fridays at "The Attic" .

[ Lainie's update: Ywenna also plays keyboards for Zalila and Zalina, new venue yet to be confirmed but this is from their previous gig (you can only see Zalila : Zalina, Ywenna and Zalila covering P. Ramlee and Saloma ]

My phone rang early in the morning yesterday - I groggily checked the phone for time and caller, and smiled - very few names can make me happy in the morning, but this one did. Must be the amount of times she's done it when we were roommates, and she wanted me to see the sunrise.

Lainie: It's a good thing I love you, cause it's 7am.
Daph: I want to make this a tradition!
Lainie: ??
Daph: Good morning! I love you! Have a good day babes!

And yes, I did have a good start to the day . I sent her a text later, when I was more awake, and called her the morning menace nutter (but I also said I love her).

Visited Rachel. She has dengue, so she's stuck in hospital a fair few days, and watching the person on the bed next to her leave the next morning, replaced by another sickly person who leaves the next.

Last night she got a noisy family, and the woman was a damned heavy snorer too. No peace for the dengue case . Josie and I imitated ogres snorting to make her feel better.

I don't know about you guys, but I am suffering from a serious overload of events. Before this, just going for arts events was enough. Now that I've taken to nightlife as well, it seems like there's something I'm attending or missing every single night.

1) I was supposed to go for Miss Malaysia tonight, but they've run out of spaces for media (either that, or they checked out Kakiseni and decided they reaaaaaaaaaally didn't want it reviewed by the website - I wouldn't blame them ). This was for work, so I'm not much fussed.

2) There's the launch of SIN tonight (opened by Liquid's old management, so could be gay - the joke is they'll try to make it "straight-friendly"). This club could rival Market Place (and La Queen, just across the road), but I suspect the gay crowd will be diluted by everyone in the general area anyway.

My housemate wants to go, and I must say I'm interested too.

3) Kevin told me of the Rising Personalities Martell party as well. But since he's not going I don't feel inclined to.

Otherwise, it IS a Friday night and there's always Loft.

BUT.

What am I saying. Rach has dengue . I'd probably feel like crap if I go out anyway. I think I'll be alone in the hospital room tonight. Shall bring magazines.

Just watched a friend recently so filled with glee she jumped from one end of the room to the other, sideways.

Went for Out of Line exhibition in Annexe yesterday. Drew myself a pet on the wall - they're inviting you to doodle your real / imaginary pet on Annexe. I find it ironic, considering Rahmat's been banned for scribbling on the walls during his poetry performance when Zephaniah was down in Malaysia. I should really have drawn him as my pet, and put a price tag under it.

I have thoughts on some contradictions in the show, but takpe la.

Yoong Chia's stuff filled up an entire room in Annexe (Pang called him the obligatory celebrity artist in the show to lend it some credibility). It's weird cause Rach and I were just talking about his series of portraits that he drew with his eyes closed.

That day, when I visited, they were setting up and Yoong Chia was drawing with his eyes closed on the wall.

Of course I had to take a picture (I asked the Annexe people, not him, because I didn't want to break his concentration but I also wanted to bersibuk take a photo). So I stood from far away and ZOOOOOOMED.

But the camera sucks, so I had to go near him anyway.

I'm planning a party in the fuuuuuuuuuuture. We'll see if I can get what I want.