Obedient Wives Club wins?

Have you seen this YouTube video which is an evening show called The Evening Edition by BFM Radio? This show is where two or three guests will be interviewed about one topic which can be favoured by both or dissented by both or to make it more interesting, where these guests have opposite views. 

For this particular The Evening Edition, the panel consisted of the Obedient Wife Clubs which was represented by Dr Azalina Dato' Jamaludin, Marina Mahathir who represented Sister in Islam and Dr. Ahmad Farouk Musa from Islamic Renaissance Front. 

Let me put the question which has been debated and made jokes of by the social media community (which you can find through this Twitter link) : Did the Obedient Wives Club win here?

Now, let us look at the debate from a different perspective in point form :

1.  Is this a debate or an attempt to ridicule a person?
2. Shouldn't a debate like this has moderator(s) and then the same number of debaters, not one person against FOUR people who attempted to make her see the light?
3. Isn't Islam a faith? If one doesn't believe in a faith, why must it be question? Did Islam ridicule other people's faith?
4. Isn't there a bully here who couldn't accept another point of view and was not really debating?
5. Is the Obedient Wives Club for all or just for Muslim women and is it compulsory to all? Even I lack the one factor in being a male.

As you can see, I am kind of bias in my analysis.If you ask me why, it is simply that I hate a bully (much like those Public Service Announcement in radio stations about how we shouldn't bully people).

Whether I believe in the Obedient Wives Club, that is another question altogether. They have valid points and for would you believe that a majority of my Muslim friends have swayed to believe in the Obedient Wives Club causes. Surprisingly they are hardworking Muslim women who have through a lot when it comes to men.

Most of you will now go "Oh, really?"

Nur Kasih the Movie

It seems that I have been watching a few Malaysian movie these past few months. More than I usually do. Still getting use to it due to a new business I am involved with which deserves its own blogpost as it is actually a business dream which finally came true. I was ribbed about this business once but I am not into it big time. Let me make sure it is off the ground first before I tell the whole world about it.

So, Nur Kasih the Movie is another movie which I got to watch much, much earlier than the 19 Million fans (which the advertisement claimed had watched the television series). I can attest to its popularity as a household of two like mine, who never tuned in at all to the television series, know of its existence. So, it is no denying the fact, I was intrigued in watching a film about it.

Is it any good?

As a Malaysian movie, which is full of melodrama and love story, it does tug at the heart. Couple it with the sweeping vista of panoramic landscapes in Malaysia, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, it does make it into a movie.

Plotwise, there does stay true to the original storyline which made it famous in television. It also borrowed the storyline of another famous love story but I still would give credit to the scripwriter for making a great story greater. There is a complain about the usage of CGI but it didn't make it any less entertaining.

Tomorrow, 19th of May 2011, it is the first day the movie will be shown nationwide in Malaysia. I can predict it will be a successful movie. It has a twisted plot and it will bring tears to your eyes. There was a parody video from Youtube shown at the start of the movie during the premiere which actually rings true. Why not if you want to spend your money on a few other summer movies from foreign shore, treat yourself to a Made in Malaysia movie which is actually well worth the price of your tickets.

One more thing, if those who never watched the show and said it is all about polygamy, there is no trace of it in the movie.  

Women : 100 - 100 years celebration of International Women's Day

This weekend is the final weekend for the celebration of Women : 100. An initiative by the newly revamped Kakiseni.com. Kakiseni is now led by Low Ngai Yuen who is of the 3R fame but now turn film director and activist, especially any initiative geared towards women empowerment.

Ngai Yuen (in the jeans jacket) meeting the celebrities

The Women : 100 celebration is a 100 hours celebration of performing arts (among others) and there is only less than 48 hours left. I think it is a good initiatives which reached out to a lot of people and they are currently being held in a few places around like the Annexe Gallery, Celebrities Club and The Actors Studio on the rooftop of Lot 10.

Calista and Nadia ready to bang some pots

They are also organising flashmobs which has dancing and like last week the one that I participate with Nadia Heng, the current Miss World/Malaysia. We were at Pavilion and we banged pots and pans to a percussion sounds to show that cutlery are not to be used for violence against women.

The celebrities that day

Chelsia Ng being interviewed

Check out Women : 100 Facebook page on what has been done and what will this weekend has to offer. I was told the final one involves some stripping. And go participate. You will have a great time and be changed of your perception about women. Even if you can't find the time, please read all the activities they have done and why they did them.

The social media team : Harinder, Kal and Callista

Bounty Hunter screening

As a lawyer, I am still asking myself why we still have no bounty hunter in Malaysia. Thanks to Adverlets who held a screening last Tuesday for bloggers, I managed to see a movie on just that subject.

Some say the story and the movie is lame but I beg to differ as the movie managed to dispel a few cliche. You have to see the end of the movie to see that one of the suspected bad guy is not a bad guy at all but was just investigating the case. And as he is a friend of the hero and heroine, it dispel the cliche of best friend are always the bad guy, which happen in a lot of movies nowadays. If in yesteryear, it was always the butler who did it, in movie nowadays, it was always the best friend who did it.

Spoiler Alert

The movie storyline is about a corruption scheme which the character Jennifer Aniston is investigating and then due to a mishap that she was involved earlier, in which she decided to get into a fight with a cop, she had to appear in front of a judge. When she didn't, due to an urgent phone call, the judge whom she was supposed to appear issued a warrant for her arrest and in good old America, a warrant can be executed by a bounty hunter. And that bounty hunter is to be Gerard Butler.

I mentioned to a friend a few days ago, Gerard Butler seem to be teaching men to be bad to their women and they will usually get their women in the end. I know he's handsome and all (to the womenfolk) but he is a bad influence.

Back to the issue of bounty hunter, wouldn't it be a good profession for the folks in Malaysia? And to get an idea what is this profession called Bounty Hunter is all about, why don't you catch it at the nearest cinema.

7 Years on...

...and we still can't keep our hands off each other...

And yes, I am talking about my wife. I don't want to jinx anything, with this 8.8.10 will be our 7th year in marriage and everything, but I do believe that this is the secret of a long marriage. My wife seems to be in the same boat with me as we are actually really very much in love with each other physically.

Yeah, yeah, I know....TMI...etc but I just want to share that as much as we love the physical comfort, we are a great partner in business too. In making money and in our taste for books, food, travel and in quieter times, music and just talking.

I do sometimes get on her nerve as much as she gets on mine.

But, what is marriage without some spice...

p/s : If you are reading this dear, I appreciate last year's birthday gift and your new year's resolution too... :)

Does this actually work?

We have the Tongkat Ali and Kacip Fatimah in Malaysia which are made into all sort of drinks. Some are supposed to give instant energy and some can make you last Alll.......Night...... Loooooonnnnnggg. Yep, those drinks which will make you into a stallion or a tigress in bed.

Then I found this in a 7-Eleven in Singapore :

It says there :

NAUGHTY 'G'

It is BOTH for men and women. It is supposed to give you stamina and performance. Not sure whether it worked or not but a few of those who I told about this drink bought it. A few girls said they bought it as the can is nice...Hm...

If you look closely, one of the ingredient says, it has 'Horny Goat Weed'.No wonder eating goat can make you a bit hot under the collar and they say a bit hornier...

And does the 'G' stands for G-spot? I wonder...

What has been happening here?

This is very rare for me as I have never really been away from blogging for so long since September last year. I did not even update or commented on any blog since one week ago which was one day before I went to Nuffnang Awards in Singapore. I know some of you have had enough of that award show but I do want to tell my side of the story. Let me give my perspective of it and it may not be as beautiful as some of the 'sponsored' post try to make it be. Heck, if you look closely between the line, you may even find a few disgruntle updates here and there.

Some of the post I need to put up is :

1) The people at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards on 23.10.09;

2) The tour of Singapore courtesy of Tourism Singapore on 24.10.09;

3) My stay in Tune Hotels Kuala Lumpur a day before the Nuffnang's Singapore trip on 22.10.09;

4) The disastrous Comedy Club Kuala Lumpur show outing on 21.10.09;

5) The free show at the new Actors Studio Kuala Lumpur on top of Lot 10 a week before that;

6) The launch of the Bob Dylan Oris watch;

7) My 3 days getaway at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside;

8) The new John Grisham book which is made for movie more than ever;

9) My weight which is yo-yo-ing like a er....yo-yo?;

10) My birthday celebration and the 'present' that I got from my wife

That is the 10 that I can think of right now. There are still 3 hours before I have to check-out from this hotel in Putrajaya. I am going to make the most of it and catch on my blogging later. See you guys in a few...

The mystery of the women's handbag

As a married man, I always know what is in my wife's handbag or I can actually garb it and have a lookee inside of it. However, when I was younger and single, I am at a lost of what is inside a woman's handbag as any other single man. We even think of it as a combustible thing which may explode any time we put our hands into it.

Nowadays, I even buy my wife his handbag like the coach bag below which can even cover up as a laptop carrier. Mystery? Not anymore.

How jealous should a partner be?

Weird huh? To ask this question. In these modern time surely there are no man or woman jealous enough to make their partner too restrictive in their movement. But, without any jealousy it all, a relationship, I believe, cannot be sustained.

Being jealous is being caring.

However, it is still need to be done in moderation. If both of you are working, it will be impossible for any one of you does not deal with any other people. What is important is for you to get to know your partner's colleagues. Do know what happen in your partner's life at work and who is who?

I am one of the jealous type and my wife was too of my business partner when she just got to know me. The solution for us to bypass our jealousy was different.

Who do you look for when you need an ear

As someone who has been married for sometime, the only person I look for is rarely other than my wife. I talk to her about nearly everything, except for business decisions which I discuss with with business partners (although I do tell my wife certain things too).

There are a few instances, which usually involves family and even friends, when I was asked to be that ear where people use to tell their side of the story. As a practising syariah lawyer once, who handled Muslims family matters, I had my share of sob stories. As a man, who was single nearly all of my teenage life and twenties (never really had a steady girlfriend) I sometimes crossed over to the 'friend' zone and that is the position where you are the place the other half comes to tell their stories. Nowadays, I even had a few encounters, where men comes and tried to get me to be their shoulder to cry on (long story).

My best advice to everyone, either they are a man or woman, who are in a long term relationship is to always to have a friend. You might not know when you need one. This is not just in preparation of any disagreements or even heartbreaks which might then lead to bitter separation between you and your spouse/partner or whatever you call your other half, but this is also for any untoward accidents which people pass through in life due to natural disasters, wars or better known as force majeure. 

Unless you are quite good at drowning yourself in sorrow. Alone...

Do not bribe men with sex

...before asking him to do something as it might mess up his head to do the job properly.

I know that there are a lot of women out there who loves to say to their partner/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend that they will reciprocate the favour which they got with sexual favour. It is not uncommon, wife/partner to say to their other half that if the husband can finish the chores assigned to him, maybe there will be more than the usual sexual act.

Some thinks that is the only way to get their husband to move their ass...

Remember Pavlov experiment with the dog? Bell, food and dog. Not a good idea.

The next time they do the job, they will expect it. Maybe more of it... ;)

Being a good husband makes your wife boring with her friends

This is not an attempt trying to elevate my self-worth in any way. Hearing the exasperation in my wife's voice everytime she tells me this is enough reward for me.

She usually has girl's night outs with her girlfriends every now and then. As her office is also full of women and they are quite close with each other, the topics that they talk with each other are nearly the same. And one of their favourite topic is about their husbands (and children, but her contribution is our cats antics).

Which brings me to my wife being boring when it comes to this topic. The antic of their husband especially those whom usually do not pick up their discarded clothing, not washing dishes and not helping out. Which rarely happens in our house. She basically has no negative stories to contribute when in comes to that topic. She even comes to the conclusion that she should be thanking her mother-in-law for training her husband well in that department.

The ugly truth is despite myself I love the Ugly Truth

By posting the above result on my blog a few days ago, I managed to catch the movie The Ugly Truth earlier than most people. It was all thanks to Adverlets. And despite the review that I have read about how the movie is considered as a box office failure by the media in USA, I consider it to be a very good romantic comedy (see, I even refrain myself from calling it a chick flick).

I have been reading film reviews either at home here in Malaysia or from internet websites originating from the United States and they have been giving the movie low ratings. The usual "nothing new" has been bandied around.

I begged to differ as after nearly a hundred years of film, how can there be something new in your normal love story unless you are talking about some Oscar driven love story movie based on some real event or a famous book. Even some classic books have been rehashed countless times. 

The movie of course borrowed from those movie called screwball comedies from the 40s and 50s where the main characters couldn't stand each other and their banters is what keep the film going. It has My Girl Friday premise as a television network served as the background. There was one borrowed scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally which is the 'climax' of that movie. My only complain is how the movie ends with all the loose end ties up, which is a normal way for a romantic comedy to end.

Everyone seemed to enjoyed The Ugly Truth and at certain scenes nearly everyone in the cinema laugh. What other movie can make most of the patrons in the cinema laugh on cue other than an Adam Sandler's or those Frat Pack's movies? Go watch it, bring your girlfriend/boyfriend and expect to enjoy yourself, in spite of the bad reviews.

The Ugly Truth about men and women

Yep, you have guessed it. This is about that movie starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. In which they proved the real facts about men and women. Butler as another Cyrano (as in de Begerac) and Heigl as the one who follows the instruction of a man she hates that she was willing to do what he asked as long as he get lost if she managed to get her man using his help.

Then they fell in love...

As always.

However, if you go to this site by Adverlets, Malaysia's internet advertising company, you can win tickets to go to the premiere screening of the movie. Take the test to determine whether you are really a man or a woman. The link is here - The Ugly Truth Quiz.

I took it and here is my result :

In short, it is a confirmed thing that I am a dude when it comes to dating. I think some of those whom I tried to date will even say I am a playerz but I will deny that.

All is fair in love and war

Someone mentioned to my wife and I that we are fun to be with as we do not agree with each other all the time. 

Huh? Yep, that was the statement. 

The explanation was in contrast with all those lovey dovey couple who keep on agreeing with each other (or one of them will be agreeing with the other who seems to be the life of the party), we always have our own opinion. Those lovey dovey couple can always be agreeable but then after a few years (even months) breaks up and go their separate ways.

Yes, we argue or held our own opinion in a lot of things. We do not always see eye to eye and we will make a stand on certain issues even if that means we are on the opposing side. We tease each other about our shortcoming and we know each other likes and dislikes.

We are together as one couple but we treasure our individualism. We fell in love with each other due to this. No one among us is trying to change that. 

I hope we will be like this until our old age...Just like the movie Up! (which is another matter to blog about on another day)

Men rarely plan to have affairs...

...it is just that the women they bed usually want more than just a fling.

I really believe this you know. Unless the men is really not married or is still looking for someone to share his life, men usually only want to have flings where they can run to whenever they want some personal attention which wives sometimes neglect to give. Some men can only think with the brain between their legs than those that are on their head and they will do this just to have a session with their flavour of the month.

When they managed to get a girl who wanted more than just sessions in bed, these men will do whatever they can to keep the affair goes on. They will promise (the first sign that they are not honest) then promise some more. They will never say the real thing until they have sunk into a pit which they cannot come out of.

Then they start to say the wrong things...

Breaking up while maintaining relationship

Do you do this?

As a man who rarely breaks up nastily (is there such a word?) I seem to be able to keep my relationship with all my ex-girlfriends from my bachelor day. Unless they decided that I am not worth of their time to keep in touch with, I have quite a healthy relationship with them. 

Why is the word healthy is in italic? Well, I don't really go out with them or have real relationship where I talk with them about life or even the household issue. My relationship with them are mostly professional as in I have relationship which allow them to get in touch with me on matters regarding work. They usually call me for advice and I usually call them too for the same. Some of them actually helped me to get work and some are professionals like me who 

After some years, which means, just recently (2,3 years back) I start to go to their houses on selected occasions like Eid Fitri celebration and such. Just to show the maturity of my marriage. I think my wife already know that there is too remote as a chance of me suddenly having affairs with any of them as they are happily married and they are nearly the same age with me. I know, that does not mean that I am not suspected of whatever that women suspect their partner or spouse of having with their exes, but at least my wife do have their number and all, if ever she wants to get in touch with them, for whatever reason (maybe exchanging recipes and such)

Anyway, just wondering whether all those married men out there are like me?

Without love, where would you be now?

Yep, that Doobie Brothers song, Long Train Running.

Ever try answering that question?

For me, I will be hopping from one bar to another at night. Maybe not bar, but more where you can find more than one beautiful girl. 

Not that it didn't happened like that when I was dating my wife, which is a story I am itching to tell. Especially coming to our 6th year anniversary.

Maybe that would be a good date to blog about it.

Male bonding

One of the best thing of being a man is the easeness of being able to bond together about mundane thing. Hey, if you go to a bar, you want to start a party, you can just join any group of men, maybe you need some money to buy them a beer, which is not necessarily the case, have a little fun with them, then you can go off to wherever you came from. Or you may to get into a fight.

It is just that as a man, I have always relate in breaking the ice just by talking to the other man that you see. For women, I am not so sure. I rarely see women straight away bonding when they just met a few minutes or an hour before that. Unless one of them is really friendly.

Men, they usually bond over some sport. It can be soccer, football, baseball or even any Olympic sports, if the Olympic had just finished. They can also talk about car, any hot girls they see and then the new beer that was just being introduced. Or maybe that Heineken commercial where the men shout like those women in the other room when they saw the beer lining up the room.

As for women, of course, they can also do the same but usually, what happened with my wife is the feeling of being left out if in the group most of the women have children. They will steer the conversation about babies and children and that will actually alienate those who has none. Or maybe they can talk about the new make-p or handbags or those shoes worn by Victoria Beckham or whoever is the current female envy then.

I may be wrong but I think men had it easy when it comes to bonding...

Would you love me any less?

Being insecured, I tend to ask this question when my wife and I were just falling in love. Asking and probing to get assurance that if one thing or another happens, our love will stand strong and we will still be together.

As I was still trying to get a firm grip on a career and was struggling to make money then (as I am still, now), I love questioning her whether if she will still be there if I became poor or not a lawyer or doesn't have a career or all those things that makes a man feel less adequate.

When we were nearing our marriage date, these questions became a serious issue as wouldn't these be the modern day equivalent of a caveman providing enough for his family?

Thankfully, after nearly 6 years, it seems that we have been through thick and thin, we are still together. And I have long ago decided that we have passed the stage of asking and it is now the time to live it...