happy birthday malaysia

Malaysia was only formed in 16 September 1963, when Sabah and Sarawak joined then-Malaya, along with Singapore. Prior to that, they were only known as Malaya.

Anyway, 31 August has been marked as the official National Day for Malaysia, since 1957.

Read more on Malaysia on Wikipedia.

unbelievable

It is a rare sight to see Malaysian national side to make it to the Final round in any soccer tournament nowadays. Nevertheless, that was the fact in latest edition of Merdeka Football Tournament.

On top of that, Malaysia, who fielded their U-23 side, came out as a 3 - 1 victor over Myanmar in the Final, and reclaimed the Merdeka Cup for the first time since 1993. Job well done, I guess.

Would this be a new beginning for the ailing Malaysian football? A new era? A revival? I would say it is still too early to say, and a lot more have to be done. It's best for the management and players alike not to get drifted away with the recent honor.

Let's see which direction are they turning to.

rynn lin

I only got to know about the event the night before. I left a message at Annna's, and she responded the next day, via SMS.

Thanks to her, I could go to the event. And as an token of appreciation, I promised her to take some of the photos of the talented Rynn Lin (林宇中). This fine lad is originated from Kuching. He was formerly a student in Kuching Town High School.


Rynn himself.


The host.


The fans.

More to come. ;-) Soon, I hope.

tribute to ole #20

Updated: "Footballing world has just lost another talent. Sevilla's Spanish international midfielder Antonio Puerta died three days after collapsing in a La Liga match against Getafe. It was believed heart attack was the course of death. My condolence to the player's family and friends, and the fans. R.I.P. "



I just got this news from ESPN Sportscenter on TV just now. One of Manchester United's all-time fans' favorites has retired from football, after failing to recover from serious knee injury, of which has plagued most of his career in the latter stage.



Apparently, Solskjaer has failed to recovered from his long-term injury. He has had no choice but to retire this season, at the age of 34. With that, I believe, it would be a hit to Sir Alex as he is running short of options at the attacking front-line. With Wayne Rooney out injured, and suspension to Portuguese sensation Cristiano Ronaldo, Fergie has only got Argentine Carlos Tevez, being backed up by fitness-lacking Louis Saha, and unproven Chinese youngster Dong FangZhuo.

Back to Ole, he was also dubbed as baby-faced assassin by the media, much thanks to his evergreen appearance and his killer-instinct in front of goalmouth. He is mostly used off the bench by the manager, and with that he earned his reputation as the super super-sub for Manchester United. One of the best moments in his career with the England side, he scored the dramatic injury time-winner for Manchester United in Champions League Final-clash with Bayern Munich in 1999. That season, Manchester United went on to win a treble -- Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.



As a Manchester United fan, I felt that I must do this post to pay a tribute to a player who had served the Red Devils well. Thank you Ole.



Read about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Wikipedia.

Photos courtesy of ABC online, BBC and SoccerBid.

weekend bonus

Weekend Bonus: Bonus one photo more. I wish I can write more, but I just can't quite yet. I'll be zooming out to Sheer Unique in a while more. Maybe later.




One of the stage performers from our own Rainforest World Music Festival.
(I have a LOT MORE of those in my archive to be shown here!)


Two lovely ladies who were nice enough to pose for my lens in my recent visit to PIKOM PC Fair in Kuala Lumpur. (Jacklyn on the left, Stephanie on the right)

photo of the day

Another version of the Eye on Malaysia. (click for full view, recommended)
Caution: Big file if full view.

Btw, TGIF. ;-)

Bipasha Basu: Jism

Jism is a 2003 Bollywood film directed by Amit Saxena, which starred Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, the latter making his debut in bollywood films. The music for the film was scored by M. M. Kreem.

Jism was among the poll Channel 4 conducted for the top 100 sexiest movie scenes, placing at number 92. Bipasha Basu won Bollywood Movie Award - Best Villain for the movie.

Bipasha Basu plays the role of Sonia Khanna in the movie. John Abraham plays Kabir Lal, an alcoholic lawyer. One day, Kabir meets Sonia Khanna (Bipasha Basu), the wife of a travelling millionaire. They embark on an affair, which leads Sonia to convince Kabir to murder her husband, Rohit Khanna (Gulshan Grover). Kabir soon finds out that Sonia's motivation for the killing was to get her hands on her husband's money and property, not to run away with Kabir.

In the playlist below I have included 4 songs from the movie: Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai, Awarapan Banjarapan, Shikayat Hai & Chalo Tumko Lekar Chale. Soundtrack is amazing and so is Bipasha!!

Dont miss it :D

Bipasha Basu: Footpath

Footpath is directed by Vikram Bhatt and stars Aaftab Shivdasani, Rahul Dev, Bipasha Basu and marked the debut of Emraan Hashmi. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Sanjana Srivastav in the movie.

The plot of the movies goes like this... the movie begins with Arjun (Aaftab Shivdasani) narrating his story in flashback mode. As a child, he lived in a Mumbai slum with his father who was a workers' union leader. Two street kids Raghu (Emraan Hashmi)and Shekhar (Rahul Dev), and their sister Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) were his best friends. But one day his father was murdered by anti-unionists and Arjun took revenge helped by his friends. He fled to Delhi soon after. Cut to the present : 20 years passed, and police came to Arjun with a proposition. Raghu and Shekhar were drug dealers and police wanted to reach the top man of the crime ladder through them. Or else Arjun will be charged of past murder. Reluctantly Arjun accepts the offer and joins Raghu's Mumbai gang. Side by side he hooks up with Sanjana who has estranged herself from her brothers. But the police inspector (Aman Verma) who gave the offer to Arjun in the first place has received an order to conduct an "encounter" of the two brothers . So Arjun must reach the "big fish" within 30 days if he wants to save his friends .

The movie is great and Bipasha looks explosively HOT in the movie. In the playlist below I have included two songs from the movie, Kitna Pyara Pyara Hai Samaa & Zara Dekh Mera Deewanapan and a clip with few hot scene from the movie...

Don't miss it guys... Enjoy!!

Bipasha Basu: Zameen

Zameen is an action movie directed by Rohit Shetty. The film is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 by terrorists. It stars Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Bipasha Basu. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Nandini in the movie.

The plot of the movie goes something like this... Colonel Ranvir Ranavat (Ajay Devgan) is a soldier who lives by the code. He captures Baba Zaheer, the mastermind of a Pakistani backed terrorist organization – Al Tahir. Six months later, during a fierce skirmish at the Indo Pak border, four terrorists cross over into India. It is up to Colonel Ranvir to track down these men and uncover their identities and their plan.



Meanwhile in Mumbai, ACP Jai (Abhishek Bachchan) is investigating an arms smuggling operation. He is stunned to discover that the origin of the arms is the Indian army – Colonel Ranvir’s battalion. It is a race against time as Ranvir arrives in Mumbai to join hands with Jai to track down the terrorists, the enemy within and foil their mission. They almost succeed but are thwarted in the last minute as the terroists succeed in hijacking a plane with many passengers and crew aboard including Jai’s betrothed (Bipasha Basu). The demand is the release of Baba Zaheer in exchange for the passengers.

Here is one great scene from the movie... Enjoy guys!

Zameen

Bipasha Basu: Takkari Donga

Takkari Donga is a Telugu film directed by Jayant Paranjee. Mahesh Babu, Lisa Ray and Bipasha Basu play the lead roles. This movie was dubbed into hindi as Choron Ka Chor. Bipasha Basu plays the role of a mischievous thief Panasa in this movie.

Plot of the movie goes something like this... Raja (Mahesh Babu) is a small-time outlaw, whose daring antics land him the accidental job of designated bodyguard to Bhuvana (Lisa Ray). Bhuvana is being chased by an gang led by Shaka (Rahul Dey), who are after a map leading to a hidden diamond mine. There is another mischievous thief Panasa (Bipasha Basu) along with uncle follows Raju so that she can dupe him and escape with all the looted money of Raja. Nicely shot, otherwise standard action fare - and interesting experience for anyone who's never heard that India once had a wild wild west. More likely though that fans of Bipasha Basu and Lisa Ray will be thrilled at this film, where they more than fulfill their roles as showpieces.

Here is the song 'Bagundamma' from the movie featuring Bipasha Basu and Mahesh Babu:



Enjoy Guys... Here are few wallpapers from the movie!!

Bipasha Basu: Raaz

Raaz is a fantasy thriller film directed by Vikram Bhatt. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Sanjana Dhanraj in the movie. The film is based on the story of a couple who have moved to Ooty to save their failing marriage. However, what they find in their new home is more then they expected when a ghost starts haunting the place. To top it all Sanjana suddenly finds that her husband is part of the ghostly conspiracy.

Bipasha Basu won Sabsey Favourite Kaun(2003)Award, favourite nayi heroine for Raaz.

It is said that the role of Sanjana Dhanraj, which was played by Bipasha Basu, was first offered to Lisa Ray, who supposedly refused the film on the basis that she did not want to do conventional Bollywood films. Bipasha Basu went on to be praised for her role in the film, and was even nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award.

When filming first began in the remote areas of Ooty there were claims by the film crew that there were ghosts haunting the set.

I have put a playlist of four songs from the movie. The songs are in this order:
1. Jo Bhi Kasmein
2. Tum Agar Saamne
3. Kitna Pyara Hai
4. Ye Shaher Hai Aman Ka

The songs are good and Bipasha great!!

Enjoy guys!

Bipasha Basu: Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai

Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai is directed by Sanjay Gadhvi and produced by Yash Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The film starred Uday Chopra, Jimmy Shergill, Bipasha Basu and Tulip Joshi. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Ria in the movie. Bipasha Basu's voice was dubbed in this movie.

Watch the song 'Hum dono Jaisa Hai Kaun Yahaan' from the movie...



Enjoy guys!!

Bipasha Basu: Chor Machaaye Shor

Chor Machaaye Shor (meaning Cry of A Thief) is a remake of the Hollywood movie Blue Streak. Bipasha Basu plays the role of Inspector Ranjita.

The movie revolves around Shyam (Bobby Deol) a small time thief who gets his sticky hands on some diamonds worth millions, only to immediately be apprehended by the Police.

Fortunately, before his arrest Shyam manages to hide the diamonds at a nearby construction site, intending to return for it as soon as he gets out of prison.

Two years pass and Shyam's release date arrives. Returning to his ill-gotten gains, he is horrified to discover that what was once a building site is now a new police headquarters with his stolen diamonds forming part of the foundation.

Shyam decides to create and play the role of Inspector Ram and soon becomes the favourite of ACP Ranbir Singh (Paresh Rawal) at the police station.

But life is not that easy going for the imposter who quickly comes to the attnetion of the ever suspicious Inspector Pande (Om Puri).

Amidst all this mayhem Ram actually finds time to romance Inspector Ranjita (Bipasha Basu). But he also plays the character of Shyam with Ranbir’s daughter, Komal (Shilpa Shetty). Soon they become lovers.

Whilst Ram/ Shyam is busy with his hectic love life, other criminals, Tito (Ashish Vidhyarthi) and Tony (Rajat Bedi) have caught wind of the news and are now in search of the diamonds.

Bipasha Basu: Gunaah

After Ajnabee, Bipasha Basu's second release was Gunaah. Gunaah is a thriller with Bipasha Basu as the good cop, Prabha and Dino Morea as a criminal, Aditya.

I am embedding a playlist with three songs from the film...

First song 'Humne Tumko Dil Ye De Dia' is a superb song... apart from the lyrics and melody, Bipasha Basu looks very very beautiful in this song... i still remember humming this song in those days!

The other two songs... 'Jab Dil Churaye Koi' & 'Kaisi Hai Ye Deewangi' are equally good but Bipasha Basu looks very beautiful in both of them... worth a watch...

Enjoy Guys!!

Bipasha Basu: Ajnabee

Bipasha Basu started her film career with the movie Ajnabee. She plays the role of fake Sonia Bajaj aka Neeta in this movie. She won a Filmfare Best Debut Award for her first film.

This movie was also considered bold initially since it brought up the idea of "wife-swapping" in the Indian cinema... but in the movie it never occurs...

Still the movie is a great watch and the plot is good... and Bipasha looks amazingly mesmerizing...

Watch out this great song 'Haan Tumhe Tumhe Hum Chahte Hain' from this movie... Bipasha looks HOT here...



Here is another superb song 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' from the same movie... but i could not get a better print quality...



Enjoy Guys!!

photo of the day

Birthday Note: Happy Birthday Mich. (21 Aug) ;-)




Eye On Malaysia @ Titiwangsa Lake
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
(click for full view, recommended)
Caution: Big file if full view.

preview on kl trip recap

Short Note: It's getting hazy in Kuching, yet again. It has really become our annual climate already. Also, I found my name here. =D.


What I have done in KL? Nothing much really, just shoot more than a 1000 shots (unfiltered, unwanted shots included), bought a printer.. and..

details later..

Here's a picture for to see what I had last weekend.


Pikom PC Fair 2007 @ KL Convention Center. I really miss the KL version.



Probably these are the reasons why. =P


Eye on Malaysia, how could I not be there? It's Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

Details to come later on. :-)

The Battle at Kruger Blog

This is the video everyone is talking about. It's known as the Battle at Kruger and features a battle between lions, crocodiles, and buffalo. This is probably one of the greatest Animal Fights of all time.

Post your comments on the Battle at Kruger here:

The Animal Web Guide Blog

The Animal Web Guide is a growing site that contains pictures and videos of animals of all kinds including lions and tigers and bears - oh my!

Post your comments on the Animal Web Guide here:

back to the cats'

I just touched down in Kuching International Airport just after 3pm. It's scorching hot today. Headache.

Weekend was great, but hectic. Believe it or not, I have filled up my CF with approximately 1084 photos all together!

Will put some effort to do an update on the weekend.

Cheers! :)

another return...

.. to Kuala Lumpur.

I'll be in away from Kuching this weekend, as I'm flying off to KL later today.

I hope AirAsia is kind enough not to delay my flight today, I have had bad track record with AirAsia.

And, I must say, I'm there for h.o.l.i.d.a.y NOT for w.o.r.k!! Hurray!

Bipasha Basu: "Tu" Video

One of the first appearances of Bipasha Basu on screen apart from the various advertisements she did was in the famous video "Tu" for Sonu Nigam's album, Kismat in 1998. She looks very cute in this video. Watch the video here :



Enjoy guys!!

Bipasha Basu: Filmography / Awards & Honours

Filmography

2001
Ajnabee

2002
Gunaah, Chor Machaye Shor, Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, Aankhen (Special Appearance), Raaz, Takkari Donga

2003
Zameen, Footpath, Rules - Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula (Special Appearance), Jism

2004
Madhoshi, Rakht: What If You Can See the Future, Rudraksh, Aetbaar, Ishq Hai Tumse

2005
Apaharan, Shikhar-film, No Entry, Barsaat, Sachien, Viruddh, Chehraa

2006
Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye, Jaane Hoga Kya, Omkara, Corporate, Phir Hera Pheri, Darna Zaroori Hai, Alag, Dhoom 2

2007
Nehlle Pe Dehella, Goal, Dus Kahaniyaan, RACE

2008
Pankh, Mr. Fraud, Raaz 2, International Hera Pheri,
Bread,Butter and Cash

Awards & Honours

Filmfare Awards

Winner

2001: Filmfare Best Debut Award for Ajnabee

Nominated

2002: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Raaz
2003: Filmfare Best Villain Award for Jism
2005, Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award , for No Entry
2006: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Corporate

Star Screen Awards

Nominated

2006: Star Screen Award Best Supporting Actress , for Ajnabee
2003: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Dino Morea for Raaz
2006: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Corporate

Zee Cine Awards

Winner

2003: Zee Cine Award Dynamic Duo for Raaz (shared with Dino Morea)

Nominated

2002: Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut for Ajnabee
2006: Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female for corporate[8]

International Indian Film Academy Awards

Winner

2002: Sony faces of the Year (shared with Arjun Rampal and Gracy Singh)

Global Indian Film Awards

Winner

2006: GIFA Best Actress for Corporate
2006: GIFA Best Actress critics for Corporate

MTV Immies

Winner

2006:Best Performance in a Song- Female for Beedi

Bollywood Movie Awards

Winner

2004: Bollywood Movie Award - Best Villain -Jism
2007: Bollywood Movie Award - Best Actress -Corporate

Other Awards Won

2004: Star's Sabsey Favourite Nayi Heroine for Raaz
2003: MTV style awards, Most Stylish Female
2005: Ranked number one in the Eastern Eye
2006: Anadalok Purashkar Award, Best Actress for Corporate
2007: All India Filmgoers award,Queen of hearts,Omkara [9]
2006: Anand Bazar Patrika Award, Best Actress for Corporate

Pageants

1996: Ford Supermodel of the world Contest
1996: Tulip Miss Super Vivacious.

Bipasha Basu: Celebrity of the Month

Continuing our Celebrity of the Month series and taking cue from last month poll, we start on Bipasha Basu this month...

Bipasha Basu, born on January 7, 1979 is a Bollywood actress and supermodel. This Calcutta based commerce graduate model came into the limelight when she won the Ford's Supermodel of the World Contest and was named Tulips Ms Super Vivacious in the same event at the remarkably young age of 17.

This Bengali bombshell was bold enough to accept an unusual role in her debut film, Abbas Mustan's Ajnabee, with Bobby Deol, Akshay Kumar & Kareena Kapoor. She played a married woman who goes all out to woo her husband’s married friend.

She was a household name much before she entered films. Besides doing innumerable prestigious ads, Bips, as her friends call her, did the famous video "Tu" for Sonu Nigam's album, Kismat and she also made a guest appearance in Jay Sean's music video Stolen.

On July 7, 2007 Bipasha co-hosted the new Seven Wonders of the World event along with two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley in Lisbon, Portugal.

Basu is currently dating actor John Abraham, whom she met during the filming of Aetbaar. She previously dated fellow Bollywood actor Dino Morea. There were rumours that the couple had parted ways because of Basu's closeness with supermodel and the man she dated before Morea, Milind Soman. Abraham and Basu are now rumoured to be engaged. She was recently seen kissing soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. She insisted, however, that Cristiano was "just a friend" and the romance was denied.

Keep dropping for more and more on her this month!!

Enjoy guys!