Here are three versions are the rendition of the classic song,"Something Stupid". We have the original by Frank, a gig with his daughter,Nancy and the one by Robbie Williams and the ever tempting Nicole Kidman. Enjoy
Frank Sinatra Original
Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams
The Frank-Nancy Gig
March 20, 2010
Fruit-cake Special: Perfume Illusion
Let us have a synopsis of the ‘Fruitcake Special’ written by Frank Brennan.
Anna is an average looking girl. She works as a chemist at Amos Cosmetics. One day, in a mood of fancy,she puts a piece of fruit-cake in a perfume mix as an experiment. She is surprised when her boss, Mr. Amos stopped at where she worked and showed a sudden unexpected interest in her. He also invited Anna to have dinner with him that night.
Meanwhile at home, Anna’s mother and Aunt Mimi question her about when she will find a husband and tease her about Armstrong, the boy who used to deliver pizza. Aunt Mimi also has a potential husband candidate for her. Anna ignores them and to deflect their intent, surprises them with the news of her date for the night.
Mr. Amos was a changed man that night when she went to fetch Anna for dinner. At the restaurant, Mr. Amos takes little notice of Anna, and even seems embarrassed that he has actually asked her out, but things rapidly change when Anna applies some more of the new perfume — the fruitcake special when she went to the powder room.
Not only Mr. Amos, but also one of the waiters becomes deeply attracted to her. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Mr. Amos’s girlfriend, Sabina, arrives, and shortly after, a brawl ensues involving Mr. Amos, Sabina and the love-struck waiter. Anna hastily makes a quick exit and went home.
Anna, diplomatically, takes the next day off work and visits Aunt Mimi to enquire about the fruit-cake she bought. Sadly, her aunt tells her the woman who made the fruit-cake has died. She also informs Anna that the deceased never had problems finding husbands — seven in total.
On returning to work, Anna is summoned to Mr. Amos’s office. Sabina is also there, and is rude towards Anna. In revenge, Anna pours the remainder of the fruitcake special over Sabina and walks out of her job.
Shortly after this, we learn that Anna has a new job at the factory where they make Intrigue.
One day, she is trying to make fruitcake, when there is a knock at the door. It is Armstrong, who now owns his own pizza company.
Now that he is successful in his own right, he feels he can ask Anna out. Anna then realizes that Armstrong is really a very nice man to be with.
So, this sounds like another classical all well that ends well finish, don’t you agree?
March 19, 2010
The Overpowering Perfume with a Fruitcake in It!
Yes, we are talking of the short story for Form 4 written by Frank Brennan.
This is a new selection to replace the earlier literature short stories and 'The Pearl' in the SPM examination of 2011.
I felt rather strange again at this selection as the earlier short story called Qwertyuiop and this one deals about strange happenings. In Qwertyuiop, it was a haunting secretary and here, it is a magical potion of a perfume deriving from a magic fruit-cake.I think just like in the selection of literature components for Forms 1 to Form 3, there is sometime really formulaic about the selection here as well.
Compared to the current series to be attempted by those in Form 5,these set of stories pales in story-line excitement and will not have sufficient excitement to sustain interest. Be that as it may, it is Hobson's choice.
So coming back to 'The Fruitcake Special", what were your first impressions after reading this short story? Yes, it was great to have some magic thrown into the story and the consequences of the special perfume and its toll on David Amos, Sabina and the love-drunk waiter of the French restaurant.
I will write some more in my next posting.
This is a new selection to replace the earlier literature short stories and 'The Pearl' in the SPM examination of 2011.
I felt rather strange again at this selection as the earlier short story called Qwertyuiop and this one deals about strange happenings. In Qwertyuiop, it was a haunting secretary and here, it is a magical potion of a perfume deriving from a magic fruit-cake.I think just like in the selection of literature components for Forms 1 to Form 3, there is sometime really formulaic about the selection here as well.
Compared to the current series to be attempted by those in Form 5,these set of stories pales in story-line excitement and will not have sufficient excitement to sustain interest. Be that as it may, it is Hobson's choice.
So coming back to 'The Fruitcake Special", what were your first impressions after reading this short story? Yes, it was great to have some magic thrown into the story and the consequences of the special perfume and its toll on David Amos, Sabina and the love-drunk waiter of the French restaurant.
I will write some more in my next posting.
March 18, 2010
What Luck-Double Bonanza!
A British bus driver netted more than £2 million ($3.3 million) on the lottery a day after his divorce came through, The Sun reports.
Kevin Halstead, 50, went out for a drink with friends after his decree absolute arrived in the post last Friday.
He bought a lottery ticket the next day – and was gobsmacked when his lucky numbers came up later that evening. This was reported by The Sun.
Kevin could have been forced to hand half the £2,302,668 to ex-wife Helen if the divorce had taken just a few days longer.
But the astonishing timing of the win means he and his new partner will be able to keep the lot.
A friend said: "Kevin was having a drink with his mates after his paperwork came through.
"He buys a ticket the following morning and scoops the jackpot. You couldn't make it up."
As the Australian guy who played James Bond in " On Her Majesty's Secret Service" once said, " Why doesn't this happen to me?"
I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, it will happen to me, too! Cheers to you, Kevin.
Bus driver Kevin Halstead wins lotto day after divorce
A British bus driver netted more than £2 million ($3.3 million) on the lottery a day after his divorce came through, The Sun reports.
Kevin Halstead, 50, went out for a drink with friends after his decree absolute arrived in the post last Friday.
He bought a lottery ticket the next day – and was gobsmacked when his lucky numbers came up later that evening, The Sun reports.
Kevin could have been forced to hand half the £2,302,668 to ex-wife Helen if the divorce had taken just a few days longer.
But the astonishing timing of the win means he and his new partner will be able to keep the lot.
A friend said: "Kevin was having a drink with his mates after his paperwork came through.
"He buys a ticket the following morning and scoops the jackpot. You couldn't make it up."
As the Australian guy who played James Bond in " On Her Majesty's Secret Service" once said, " Why doesn't this happen to me?"
I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, it will happen to me, too! Cheers to you, Kevin.
Malaysia: Aren't We Sensitive to the Physically Challenged?
One thing you must immediately take note of in Malaysia. It is a country of motherhood statements and everything nice.Then it stops just there.
As much as PM Najib wants action with his popular " People First, Performance Now', its not happening.Why, simple. We no longer have that culture of doing what we say. Look no further from the civil service to the GLCs. It's, " Me, me and me first attitude". Imagine the gall of a Chairman of a public listed company who wants his allowances to increase from RM40K to RM110K overnight. Did he ever think of service first,performance now? Noooooooooooooo.
So when our wheel-chair bound Stanislaw Anthony and his wife Janet wanted to go to India, they found out the hard way.Let us read about their sad encounters from the car park to the wheel-chair and cry together. This was taken from the on-line STAR dated 19 March 2010.
" Airport encounters that call for an attitude change.
STANISLAUS Anthony, 60, and his wife Janet, 53, were overjoyed last month when their son surprised them with a trip to India. Joachim, 26, paid for his parents’ 10-day pilgrimage to a healing centre in Kerala in South India.
Joachim decided to accompany his parents since they are persons with disabilities.
Stanislaus became disabled 12 years ago after he underwent a hip replacement surgery. Although he is able to walk, he can only do so for very short distances. He tires easily and the pain in his left leg is often excruciating. When this happens, he uses a wheelchair.
Janet, on the other hand, has been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
The couple and their son joined a crowd of 5,000 pilgrims at the centre. It was an experience of a lifetime for the trio.
I caught up with Stanislaus and Janet when they returned to Petaling Jaya a couple of weeks ago. Instead of telling me about the difficulties they encountered as disabled persons in a foreign land, they couldn’t stop telling me about the many problems they had to overcome before even leaving Malaysia.
When Joachim booked the flight online, he recalled ticking a box on the form to indicate “Disabled (passenger)”. No further questions were asked about the disability status.
So the eager retirees thought that all their accessibility needs would be looked into when they arrived at the airport.
When Stanislaus reached the Sepang airport, he was shocked to find that the only disabled parking spot next to the building entrance was occupied by a car belonging to a non-disabled driver.
He had no choice but to park his specially-adapted car next to the offending vehicle.
Then came the second upset. Despite the numerous stickers on his car clearly indicating that he was a disabled driver, he was promptly served with a summons. The real offender, meanwhile, got away scot-free.
However, this was nothing compared to the nightmare that was yet to come. The disabled couple were made to climb up a flight of stairs before they could board the aircraft. The ambulift – a specially designed contraption to lift wheelchairs into the aeroplane – was out of order, they were told.
After the rest of the passengers had boarded the plane, it was their turn. Stanislaus has had frequent hip dislocations over the past year. He was terrified as he took each step up the stairs. Janet was on tenterhooks, too.
Once inside the plane, the couple had to walk almost halfway across the length of the plane to get to their seats. Stanislaus wondered why the airline had not made things easier for them and changed their seats to one of the front rows instead. Only on their return trip were they given front-row seats.
The couple also raised a few points:
- The staff were ill-advised on how to help disabled travellers. When the couple were struggling up the steps leading to the aircraft, there were only two small-sized women and one man on standby in case of emergency.
- Although there was an express lane for disabled/elderly passengers at the airport in India, none existed in the Sepang airport.
- The ambulift was still under repair when the couple returned from India. The wheelchair provided by the airport in Sepang had wheels that wobbled. Stanislaus was charged RM15 for the use of the wheelchair and no receipt was issued. In India, the wheelchair service was free.
Malaysia Airports Berhad-Where are your KPRAs? What has happened to practicing PM Najib's," People First, Performance Now' ?
Are we all going to wait for Godot?
Buck up, man!
English Proficiency:Play It Again?
We have enough of motherhood statements. It's either we do it seriously or abandon ourselves to the consequences of not being equipped to compete globally.
Too often, we allow political considerations to over-ride rationality. The back-peddling of reverting the teaching of English and Mathematics back to Bahasa Malaysia recently is the unkindest cut of them all.
Anyway, for whatever it is worth, let us read this on-line news report extolling the merit of learning English.
" Malaysians, including civil servants, must be proficient in English to seize opportunities for future economic survival, said chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan.
Mastering the language was vital because China, an emerging economic power, was predicted to be the world’s number one English speaking country within 10 years, he said.
“As English will remain the global lingua franca for centuries to come, we must emphasise proficiency for communication, negotiation and articulation purposes.
“For example, proficiency in English is vital when negotiating FTA (Free Trade Agreement),’’ he said.
Sidek said this after presenting a keynote address at the 11th National Human Resources Summit at a hotel in Bandar Sunway Thursday.
He also stressed that mastering English would not make a person less patriotic.
“In fact, we will be more patriotic if we can master English and use it to get the best deal for our country,’’ he said, noting that a survey in India showed that 100% of its college graduates could speak English.
Earlier in his keynote address on “Building empowered organisations: A Case for Malaysia”, Sidek said students must be prepared for jobs and technologies that have yet to emerge.
“We need to think 27th Century, today,’’ he said.
He also said that equality and equitability were crucial in creating empowered society, empowered organisation and empowered individuals.
“The government subscribes to the economics of ethics and fairness,’’ he said, adding that under 1Malaysia no one would be left out or sidelines due to exterior merits.
Sidek also noted that only 26% of the 10.6 million working population serve in professional and managerial capacity.
Comparatively, professionals make up between 35 and 50% of the working population in developed countries, he said.
“Only 80% of our workforce are educated up to upper secondary level,’’ he said.
The private sector could play a role in helping Malaysia transform into a high-income economy, he said.
He said public and private sectors, media and civil societies should not be drawn into “silo” agendas that abandon the country’s destiny in the global arena.
“We need trend setters who dare make bold changes to set new standards and break new grounds,’’ he said."
Well said, but where is the beef?
Too often, we allow political considerations to over-ride rationality. The back-peddling of reverting the teaching of English and Mathematics back to Bahasa Malaysia recently is the unkindest cut of them all.
Anyway, for whatever it is worth, let us read this on-line news report extolling the merit of learning English.
" Malaysians, including civil servants, must be proficient in English to seize opportunities for future economic survival, said chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan.
Mastering the language was vital because China, an emerging economic power, was predicted to be the world’s number one English speaking country within 10 years, he said.
“As English will remain the global lingua franca for centuries to come, we must emphasise proficiency for communication, negotiation and articulation purposes.
“For example, proficiency in English is vital when negotiating FTA (Free Trade Agreement),’’ he said.
Sidek said this after presenting a keynote address at the 11th National Human Resources Summit at a hotel in Bandar Sunway Thursday.
He also stressed that mastering English would not make a person less patriotic.
“In fact, we will be more patriotic if we can master English and use it to get the best deal for our country,’’ he said, noting that a survey in India showed that 100% of its college graduates could speak English.
Earlier in his keynote address on “Building empowered organisations: A Case for Malaysia”, Sidek said students must be prepared for jobs and technologies that have yet to emerge.
“We need to think 27th Century, today,’’ he said.
He also said that equality and equitability were crucial in creating empowered society, empowered organisation and empowered individuals.
“The government subscribes to the economics of ethics and fairness,’’ he said, adding that under 1Malaysia no one would be left out or sidelines due to exterior merits.
Sidek also noted that only 26% of the 10.6 million working population serve in professional and managerial capacity.
Comparatively, professionals make up between 35 and 50% of the working population in developed countries, he said.
“Only 80% of our workforce are educated up to upper secondary level,’’ he said.
The private sector could play a role in helping Malaysia transform into a high-income economy, he said.
He said public and private sectors, media and civil societies should not be drawn into “silo” agendas that abandon the country’s destiny in the global arena.
“We need trend setters who dare make bold changes to set new standards and break new grounds,’’ he said."
Well said, but where is the beef?
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