ABC Counterpoint someone researching Michael Moore found major flaws in integrity.. In his film Michael and Me .. he struggles to get an interview with the GM CEO yet actually this is not true he actually he interviewed him on camera twice during

buying carbon credits is like medievil catholics thinking it's OK to sin then buying "indulgences" to let them off

"Sad Tomorrow" download sample 500Kb The hook is not strong enough for a TV commercial, but I can imagine the track being used in a movie particularly for the last song fading into the credits as the hero realises not every story ends in happiness. It sounds like it was recorded in a big LA recording studio.

I couldn't believe it when Luna told me there are hot springs in the city. Then I looked on the map and found there was a street and whole area named Hot Water (Ayer Panas). Hot Springs

Today I decided to take the bus from Majid Jamek and check it out. I wasn't sure what to expect: surely in a busy city such a facility , would be packed with people screaming kids, women pounding washing and Muslims bathing in all their street clothes, Or maybe it had been bought up by an exclusive club making it difficult to get into. Or maybe such an amazing natural phenomenon would surely have deep spiritual significance and so would be a temple, Or even unable to stay clean cos of the bad litter habits of the the masses it had got very dirty and fallen into disrepair. It wasn't any of those; it wasn't like anything I could have expected. It was very very unassuming. There's a rundown 60's apartment block with a walled pond in front of it with steam rising out of it. Apart from concrete surrounding wall it looks clean and natural. I would have expected people to sit in this pond soaking, but you are not allowed to. I guess that gets round any safety, health or religious concerns. Yes a hot spring which you can't soak in !. For 1Rm You are allowed to pour it over yourself mandi style. At the front there are 4 spouts. 2 Indian guys were in their shorts taking a mandi at one side at the other side a woman was washing clothes. In the middle were basic, but clean rooms with mandi cubicles. Then at the back there's a 2m by 1m footbath 25cm deep. Mixed sexes bathed their feet. There were signs in Malay probably forbidding it, but no one objected me being there in my shorts and sitting in the pool. Probably one of those occasions I can get away with it cos I'm a stupid white man.

Even though it had rained heavily in the afternoon the water was bloody hot, so hot you could just about stand in it but not bear being upto your neck in it even if the pool was deep enough. It is strange that no-one has developed a system of bathing pools by mixing it with cold water.

I guess politics keeps it from being developed, but I don't know how anyone allowed an apartment block to be built around it. It must have been a beautiful natural spot before. There is a new apartment building going up next door, which has a swimming pool; maybe they will build a hotspring facility aswell.

Non-one around spoke enough English to be able to explain the history to me. Which is a pity as the history must be the most interesting part as apart from soaking your feet for 5 minutes it's not a very interesting place to take people to..

actually there are quite a few around KL list of springs There is much well managed on the way to Seremban (old road). Pedas ?

Now I found there is a waterfall to visit @ Kanching Falls info+ directions

I got back and had a drink & something to eat on my own. Then popped to Bau Bau café. I found upstairs there was free food & drink at the opening of the Eye Contact - Appreciate the Indigenous people photo exhibition. The photos were mostly too artistic for my liking.. They didn't really help me understand the lives of Indigenous people, but is serving as a focus for 2 indigenous events on Saturday & Tuesday.

Just went to see the Afdlin Shauki movie Sumo Lah. Since I saw him live at KLPac last year I thought I'd give in a chance. I was dreading it being Astro tacky, but it's not except for the last 30s of smiling together faces, and outrageous product placement for Celcom. Michihiro Kubota wrote the script and it seems he set out to make an intelligent film with important moral messages.

I would really recommend it especially to take foreign visitors to, cos it's much better than Hollywood films, it shows lots of places in KL and Malaysian culture. It has places like his house in Kampung Baru that I walked past yesterday, KLPAC, Puchong, the park in Putrajaya, The Japanese club and things like roadside foodstalls.

It seeks to give a moral message without being preachy. Malays taking the piss out of themselves for being lazy and giving up too easy - Shows him learning humility and discipline by working with Japanese.

So it's dialogue is 60% Malay, 30% English and 10% Japanese. The way this is done with each character switching between languages while the subtitles switch between English and Malay works well; you never feel left out as if you were watching a foreign movie.

Outrageous product placement and I mean out F rageous, one time they actually watch a Celcom commercial, features a Celcom shop, people using Celcom 3G video phones and almost 10% of the time a Celcom banner is visible. Ogawa also sponsors and twice they go into Ogawa shop to use the chairs for free. The fitness studio also get a lot of publicity.

Other Malaysian cultural things we see are motorbike repossession, and the hardworking mother paying for everything for her boy while he seems selfish and ungrateful, Japanese winding Malays up by being too direct and aggresive (what ?), him calling out at girls going past .. even Muslims. Strangely we see he touches women who are not his girlfriend e.g. Massaging their hands without asking then he squeams with embarassment when he sees the sumo wresters in loincloths or sees naked men at the hotsprings. Surely every man has seen other men naked before what's the big deal, maybe to women it's interesting, but not to men. Personally I think women should be able to dress how they like, but I wouldn't even touch or or stand close without permission . So is it the norm that women have to cover their bodies so can't see, but men don't ask, but touch without permission ?

It could have done with another few weeks for character development. The stereotypical baddie boyfriend repenting and becoming honorable could have been done better. And it could have shown better how they used their skills aquired in Japan to win in the sumo bouts. The womens roles were all about being pretty, wheras the men's were about being leaders, winners or baddies. It would have been nice to have had some better role models for women other that a pretty Celcom promoter or dedicated put upon mother.

Nakotta- try hard, no matter the opponent

This type of production should feature and "A" classification to tell you it's full of obtuse artistic ideas mere mortals like me can't understand.

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