Ashleigh's Musings

Ashleigh's Musings

Saturday, July 05, 2008 @ 1:22 PM

*********
Thing which made me go "Whaddafuck?" : Supermodel Karolina Kurkova was labelled "FAT" by the Brazillian media. If she's fat then I'm fuckin' obese by 8975558246 kgs. Click here to see her "Back FAT & Butt cellulite" photo & here for her "Love Handles" photo. Pfffftt...
*********

Do you follow the latest developments in Malaysian politics? If you don't then I suggest you do. Why? Because it's more interesting than the soap operas on TV, I threw my TV away. (Okay, it got spoilt and nobody bothered to fix it since nobody watches much TV in my home anyway)

Below are my list of reasons why you should be interested in Malaysian politics (if you're apathetic like 99.9999999999999999% like the rest of the population) :-

Reason #1: The plot is so so so much more interesting than your run-of-the-mill soap opera or Thai/Filipino/Indonesian/Korean/Cantonese/Taiwanese drama. For real. This sort of shit will just blow your mind. Like KAPOWW!!! Anyway, there are many actors and a huge supporting cast but for now the main stars are DPM Najib and Anwar Ibrahim.

Reason #2: For those of you who missed the earlier part, this is what happened so far- Altantuya, a Mongolian woman was blown up and people started pointing fingers at each other. Initially, Razak Baginda, an aide of the DPM Najib was the main person involved in the case but there's twists in the plot!

Reason #3: The twists in the plot! First Raja Petra made a Statutory Declaration and published it on his blog. The biggest revelation was that Rosmah, the DPM's wife was directly involved in Altantuya's murder! And she personally saw to Altantuya's demise! O_O No, the fact that the DPM was involved in the case is not THE shocker since he being involved in the case is the nation's worst kept secret.

Reason #4: The next twist in the plot comes in the form of Anwar being accused of sodomy! Read about it here. This dude, by the name of Saiful Bukhari was a UNITEN dropout with a CGPA of 0.8 (how is it possible?), who decided to volunteer for Anwar's party, PKR during the March '08 elections. He claims that Anwar has sodomised him in an apartment in Damansara recently. Apparently, that must have broke the camel's back since it wasn't the first time he was sodomised by Anwar.

Reason #5: Anwar denied the sodomy allegations against him and said that his life was being threatened by the Government and sought asylum in the Turkish embassy. Then, he made international news when he released his trump card in the form of: PI Balasubramaniam! This private investigator was working for Razak Baginda when Altantuya was still alive and making a nuisance of herself to Najib & Co.

*I'm tired of writing reasons already, shaddup & read it, dammit!* Mr. Balasubramaniam also made a Statutory Declaration which directly implicated DPM Najib to the murder of Altantuya. Alas! Less than several days after Mr. B's first explosive tell-all SD (which included anal sex, USD 500,000 at stake and many other juicy bits), he retracted it.

Personally, I prefer the first SD. More shockers and twists. The second one? Rather predictable. Also, we made world news again! Malaysia Boleh! Hollywood should so do a movie out of this.

Off to be emo,
Ashleigh

Labels: body image, Malaysia, models, politician, politics

Monday, June 30, 2008 @ 6:54 PM

*********

Listening to: "I Just Wanna Use Your Love" & "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry
*********

I'm sure you all have heard of the latest "shocking" news - Anwar has allegedly sodomised yet another poor soul. No, I don't want to speculate and air my views on Malaysian politics anymore. Why? Just because. It's pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain what's going on. It's so pathetic to realize that the people governing the country think that Malaysian citizens are stupid enough to believe their blatant lies.

Bimbo post below:
Pfft.. Anyway, since I've discovered the wonders of Polyvore thanks to Kim, I've been killing time with it. Below is something I usually wear. I love my basics!

I've only recently started wearing prints. Yes, I'm retarded like that. Sigh... I've got nothing interesting or ground-breaking to blog about.

Off to read her latest Terry Pratchett book,
Ashleigh

Friday, June 20, 2008 @ 4:46 PM

*********

Ever since Jenna recruited me on Facebook to play Word Twist with her, I've been hooked! Go check this application out. A word of caution though, this app is addictive! =)

*********

Do old people have sex?

a. No
b. Yes
c. I don't know
d. I don't know & I don't want to know
e. No, and they shouldn't

I stumbled upon this interesting yet terribly heartbreaking story: http://www.slate.com/id/2192178/pagenum/all/#page_start

For those of you who can't read more than 2 paragraphs of words due to your blinding monitor light or plain ol' bad eyesight, I shall cut the long story short.

Meet Bob: 95 years old who fell in love with Dorothy, 82 years old. They both live in the same nursing home but were yanked apart when their relationship became sexual.

"Bob, who was led away in January, shouting, 'What's going on? Where are you taking me?'
Dorothy stopped eating. She lost 21 pounds, was treated for depression, and was hospitalized for dehydration. When Bob was finally moved out of the facility in January, she sat in the window for weeks waiting for him."

According to the woman who runs the facility, she's met many couples in nursing homes but none as inspiring or heartbreaking as Bob & Dorothy's story.

"...and they are holding hands and beaming in a way that makes it impossible not to see the 18-year-olds inside them."

Bob's son found them having oral sex, panicked and ordered the management to keep them apart. When things escalated to a climax, he had his father taken away.

"When Bob's son became aware of these trysts, he tried to put a stop to them—in the manager's view because the son felt that old people 'should be old and rock in the chair.' "

This perception is the most heartbreaking, a couple forced apart just because they don't exactly fit into society's view of them. I hope that Bob's son will be treated better than how he treated his father.

"...suspects Bob's son of fearing for his inheritance. Bob had repeatedly proposed for all to hear and called Dorothy his wife, but his son called her something else—a 'gold digger'—and refused to even discuss her family's offer to sign a prenup."

"Dorothy's doctor also took their experience personally.
'Can you imagine as a clinician, treating a woman who's finally found happiness and then suddenly she's not eating because she couldn't see her loved one? This was a 21^st-century Romeo and Juliet. And let's be honest, because this man was very elderly, I got intrigued; my respects to the gentleman.'
His patient was happier than he could ever remember; she was playing the piano again, and even her memory had improved."

I think it was a mercy that her Alzheimer's helped her to forget Bob. I feel like tearing up now, reading it again. Anyway, when I related this story to Bal, he said, "Maybe Bob's son was worried about his father getting a heart attack during sex?"

He (Dorothy's doctor) said, the fear of sex causing heart attacks is wildly overblown: "If you've made it to age 95, I'm sorry, but having sex is not going to kill you—it's going to prolong your life.

So there. It's really sad to see that Bob's son is so very selfish - denying his father's happiness just because of his discomfort at the thought of his father having a sexual relationship with another elderly woman.

I also watched Atonement with Bal the other day. Yet another tragic love story. Sigh, I'm such a sucker for those. The movie ended with me crying. Yes, I know it's just a fictional movie and it's silly to cry for something which isn't true, but I can't help it!

It's so sad to find out that both Robbie & Cee never see each other again after the war. *sob*

And Bal makes fun of this quirk of mine!! He thinks I'm being silly for crying and emphatizing with their sad fate. Grrr!!! Rawr! =(

Off to cry her eyes out over Lyra & Will,
Ashleigh

Labels: Atonement, Bal, movie, old people, sex

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 @ 2:11 PM

*********

Just when Bal was telling me to stop being such a narcissist (I'll tell you the whole story some other day), this pops out when I Googled my name - Ashleigh Goh. I'm so famous! *preens self*

*********

This post is going to be ALL about MOI!! Do I hear groans? To be fair, the last post consisted of 90% Bal so this is 100% me. I've just had a sudden revelation while I was in the shower brushing my teeth!! Isn't it funny how these sort of revelations suddenly come when you're doing something as mundane as that? Or maybe it's just me being weird.

Anyway, the revelation was... I'm turning 19 in 2 months time!! O_O Big news for someone who feels like a small kid inside!

I then told Bal, "Oh. My. God!"
"Huh? What?"
"I'm turning 19 in 2 months time!!!"
"So what? I'm 20 already."
"So this means I only have less than 2 years to be irresponsible and carefree and petty and well, childish!"
"You seem to be able to do that already."
"No, I mean, if when I turn 20, I've to BE responsible & mature!"
"Don't worry, you'll find it easy to be irresponsible and immature regardless of age," he said while looking meaningfully at me.

While the boyfriend is rather indifferent to this otherwise groundbreaking news, I still feel like I'm running out of time. Oh dear!

"Oh, stop being so morbid lah! You're not even 20 yet!" Bal says, getting fed up of my morbidity.

Most of my friends are 20 years old already or older and I'm not sure how they reacted to er.. their aging. Probably not as morbid or weird as my reaction. I shall continue to read Terry Pratchett in a bid to be young as well as hip/awesome/cool. I shall post more photos of myself on this blog and type in no more than 2 words per post. I shall also post photos of my clothes and photoshopped self to death. I shall change my layout to pink because it feels like a girly yet youthful colour.

No, I kid.

Off to watch Stephen Colbert's Daily Report,
18-turning-19 soon Ashleigh

Labels: Ashleigh, Bal, bimbo, narcissism, ramblings, random

Monday, June 16, 2008 @ 2:05 PM

*********

Latest read: The Bromeliad Trilogy - Truckers, Diggers, Wings

I'm currently undergoing a Terry Pratchett-mania phase, so all things Pratchett are awesome to me. Die you Terry Pratchett haters!! Die!!

Now I need more books. But I'm broke. So someone please help me by clicking on any ads you see here. I promise I'll only use the money for books. No shopping sprees. (=

*********

Here are the photos from that day when Jenna, Bal & I went to watch The Incredible Hulk movie, and where we ~~bullied~~ coerced Bal into posing with the movie posters, much to the amusement of spectators.

One day during class, our teacher went out for a moment and came back with a Kung Fu Panda flyer. She said while pointing to said Panda, "Hey, doesn't this look like Bal?"

Yes, we bullied him into doing it! XD

Since he wasn't satisfied being Kung Fu Panda, we let him be the Incredible Hulk.

I'll be your Betty, baby =)

Actually, we shopped a little first and then had lunch before the movie. We ate at this Nyonya restaurant in 1 Utama. It's the floor above FOS. I think it's called Peranakan something... Not sure. But the food is really good!!

Even Bal recommends the food there. It's so hard to eat out with Bal sometimes. We both love food, but he's also a food critic. He'll say that the meat hasn't been braised properly or hasn't been marinated enough or something like that. Not that he thinks he's the best chef, he's his worst critic actually, but to find a restaurant where Bal would enthusiastically recommend is very, very rare.

Bal & I at said restaurant
This is when we're not getting on each other's nerves

This is when he finds me annoying
And he's trying to poke my eyes out

Anyway, I had a great time catching up with Jenna and ganging up with her to bully him. Hahahaha!! Too bad Aku didn't come too. =D

We also celebrated our anniversary last Saturday. No, no need to wish us and all because our anniversary is actually 4 months earlier! Bal was too busy with work and stuff so we re-scheduled it and re-scheduled it and re-scheduled it for the umpteenth time. Now that he's running his own kitchen (so goddamn proud of him), it's easier for him to get off.

We had our hi-tea buffet at the Legend Hotel in KL. Yes, we love food to much. And now I'm so fat! T__T Oh gods, I can see it all now... Our lifestyle is going to be so positively decadent. Sigh...

I snapped this while he was eating

Me! =D
I was as happy as a kid with ice-cream that day

Us! (=

I wanted to take a photo of some desserts, but Bal had already dug in. )=
I've never taken photos of food and blogged about it
I find it kinda weird, unless I'm a food blogger or critic

Whoa! This whole post is practically about Bal & I only... O_O Last week I met up with him 3 times! Once for class, once to watch The Incredible Hulk with Jenna and another for our anniversary hi-tea! So, so happy! =D

Labels: anniversary, Bal, books, Bromeliad Trilogy, buffet, Hi Tea, Incredible Hulk, Jenna, Kung Fu Panda, movie, Terry Pratchett

Sunday, June 15, 2008 @ 10:37 PM

Why I love Richard Dawkins so much:

Articulate, intellectual & the most outspoken atheist. You rock, Darwin's rottweiler.

Labels: atheism, atheist, Richard Dawkins, science

Friday, June 13, 2008 @ 9:10 AM

*********

Shoutout: Decided to follow Kim & make headnotes (not sure if it's called that) for posts. Anyway, this shoutout is for Stephanie Anne who added me on Facebook & is a fan of my blog!! =D And to all you random blog strangers too! *waves excitedly*

*********

When I first heard that Ed Norton was going to act as well as write the screenplay for the Incredible Hulk movie, I was stoked! 'Cos Norton is a totally amazing actor. In The Illusionist, where he is sadly underrated, I fell in love with him. Not sexually, (sure, he's hot in a way) but more in his craft.

Which is more than I can say for Robert Downey's character as Tony Stark in Iron Man. Typical mindless standard stuff for males. Jenna is so gonna diss me for dissing her Tony Stark (we ended up ~~arguing~~ debating about which movie is better: I prefer the Hulk to Iron Man). I watched The Hulk yesterday with Jenna & Bal since Aku couldn't make it. =( But, to make up for Aku's absence, we bullied Bal into taking lots of funny photos with movie posters. The photos are with Jenna. Hopefully she'll upload it to her blog and I can nick it from there.

Anyway, I absolutely despise characters such as Tony Stark. Why? He may be rich, smart, witty and resourceful but he is also inherently selfish & sexist. Apparently he couldn't get enough metal/time/insert excuse here to make another suit for Dr. Yinsen who (Read: SAVED his life). He didn't have to make a one-man suit, he could have designed or made modifications. But, then he wouldn't be Iron Man, you say. I'd rather he be Iron Vehicle or whatever instead of sacrificing his saviour in his bid to bust out of captivity.

But, Dr. Yinsen volunteered to sacrifice his own life, you say. True, which is akin to suicide. And what do we do to people who attempt suicides? We give them counselling, provide them the attention and care they need and also try to talk them out of it. You don't say: "Really? Oh okay then, see ya in afterlife" to the person who saved your life.

But, Stark didn't divulge government secrets for the sake of his country! Okay, I'm not sure if it's only me, but I find it racist that the "bad guys" are ~~usually~~ always of Middle Eastern descent in Hollywood movies. Sure, the main "bad guy" may be an American himself, but for the most part; they are portrayed by the Middle Easterners, who happen to be Muslims, by the way.

I've had it with Pepper Potts too!! What happened to the strong-willed Pepper Potts I know who went on to become Hera?

I think The Feminist Underground reviewed this movie best. Dudes, listen up. Men who are confident are a turn-on. Men who are cocky and arrogant are a turn-off. Really. Because the message you send out is this: I'm a jerk who won't take no for an answer yet women can't wait to get undressed for me. I think I puked a little in my mouth.

Excerpts from The Feminist Underground's blog:

"Tony Stark's condescending attitude towards women and outright sexism is portrayed as central to his charm. A female soldier giggles coquettishly when he throws some low-grade harassment her way, because what soldier wouldn't love to hear words like 'Now that I know you're a woman, I can't take my eyes off you. Does that make you feel uncomfortable?' drifting her way over the romantic rumbling of the humvee she's driving?"

Oh yeah, that's a real sexy line.

"A socially conscious journalist is charmed into Stark's bed by his snarky remarks about her liberal education and the accusation that she is naive to the point of stupidity."

Excuse my inherently-feminine-caused naivete and ignorance, but shouldn't it be that if you were to charm someone, you'd sing their praises, not the other way around? If any guy insulted my intelligence without just cause, I'd give him a parting shot.
Yet, Jenna defends Tony Stark, "It's just sex, Ashleigh."
I'm sure I'd be in the mood for sex as soon as Bal insults MY intelligence.

"I'm sure the script writers would claim that the intent is to establish Stark as a self-centered ass, giving him room to grow throughout the film(s). And as we know, there is no better way to illustrate a character's immaturity than to repeatedly show him treating women as soulless objects....By portraying women as being universally susceptible to the 'seductiveness' of Stark's misogyny, the film implies that all women either like being belittled, don't have the dignity to stand up for themselves, or are too empty-headed to notice a pig when he stares them in the breasts."

Touche.

"Ms. Potts tries to kiss Stark immediately after expressing her discomfort at his forcing her to dance with him despite her attempts to turn him down...she turns down his offer to be his girlfriend at the end of the film! Yet, she doesn't say 'no,' but merely points to the fact that he left her waiting for a promised drink (WTF??????????) the last time he tried to woo her - essentially telling him that she's available if he just tries a little harder to convince her that he's serious this time. He doesn't, because he's not."

Pepper dear, if he leaves you in the lurch like that, it means = Not Interested Anymore.

"...the violence in the film relies on an American audience being comfortable - even amused - by the sight of people being killed -as long as they're brown (skinned)."

Very good piece written by The Feminist Underground. I'm no movie critic, but I've watched enough movies to know which is horse shit and not. Your turn, Jenna.

Off to inflate Bal's ego now,
Ashleigh

Labels: Bal, friends, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Jenna, movie, panda