The Fall of a Star

Drug scandal that erupted last weekend : Korean heartthrob Joo Ji Hoon, best known for his role in "Goong" as Prince Shin, was charged for acquiring party drugs for personal use.

Joo Ji Hoon was not charged with drug trafficking nor possession of it but was being interrogated by police suspecting him acquiring the drugs. Apparently, two lesser known Korean actresses were arrested for trafficking ecstasy and ketamine into Korea from Japan which they then sold to their friends. And Joo Ji Hoon was one of those names that they dropped. Being the most recognizable name, Joo Ji Hoon is therefore getting a lot of attention. Side tracking : the hilarious part was that these two actresses smuggled the drug past custom by inserting them into a menstrual pad!

The Japanese media reported the scandal "with particular gravity". Joo Ji Hoon has been dropped from all current and future screening. Cancellation of filming/events would eventually lead to lawsuits. It affects all of the other people involved in his projects in a very negative way.

I was shock and disappointed when I first heard about it. I am not a huge fan of his but I think he is gorgeous and a pretty good actor too. Grooming as a model turned actor, he sure has a great body.

I was personally saddened that he is idiotic enough to consume those drugs. He is such a talented person with so much going for him. I was looking so much forward to his future projects "Naked Kitchen" and "Tokyo Tower" but it seems his career may be going down the drain, at least for now.

He must be kicking himself in the ass right now and he has no one to blame but himself. He knows that doing drugs in Korea is illegal, no one put a gun to his head and forced him to consume drugs. He wanted to do drugs because he thought it was pleasurable. You do the crime, you pay the time. Simple as that. He was in such a privileged position with a promising career but he blew it. It wasn’t like he was an unknown struggling korean actor feeding from hand to mouth who couldn’t catch a break. I suppose he was in the whirlwind of being a celebrity and thus making foolish life wrecking choices.

Very disheartening that he needs to learn the hard way. But he is still young and I am sure he can rebuild his career. ... only if he can bear it through the storm and not resort to do silly things thereafter.

Give Them Power

Saturday was Parents' Day at my daughter's school. Not to my surprise, she did not do well this term. She has been constantly minding her own "business" these days and hence has vastly neglected her studies. I suppose from now on I have to keep a very close eye on her, start imposing stricter house rules and repeatedly preach the following : laziness will get her bad results, lack of education limits her opportunities in life ...

What amazed me on that day at her school was the behaviour and reactions of some of the parents. They spent ages with the teacher either trying to "get to know" their daughters through the teacher's words or strenuously denying the teacher's claim that their daughters were behaving badly. Worst still, I could hear mothers firing statements like, "Her hair/uniform is my, being the mother, business and is not up to you teachers to overrule." or, "I do not believe that my daughter behaved that badly." or, "I hereby challenge your evaluation on behaviour, she definitely deserves an A+ instead of a C." I really pity the teacher who was busy fending off the simultaneous wrath of these parents.

Over the years, I have noticed how parents become so over-protective of their children and often are quick to blame others except themselves if their children do not do well in their studies. Or worse, in some instants, they even challenge to take the teachers to court when their children are “punished” in school for their wrongdoings.

What has happened to us, parents? How can we be so naive as to think our children could never do anything wrong? I don't see why as parents we must become "kiasu" if teachers in our children's school take certain actions to instil better values and proper discipline in our children.


Some child rights activists argue that teachers should try to "understand student's feelings", "be more compassionate towards the students." and "intellectually persuade the students of the neccessity of a good education." I personally think it is a load of crap. Talk is easy. I challenge this group of people to try teaching in an average Malaysian school classroom for a week, or even just for a day. If after the event, they can still consistently rely on their soft approach, quite voice and gentle persuasion to quell three dozens rioting, arrogant students, then I will shut my gob.

Of course, it is right that we should be a caring society. At the same time, we must be practical and use our common sense on the issue of discipline in school. There is no two ways about it.


Back in the 70s & 80s when I was a student, the teachers had the authority to discipline the students and parents never dare to question. Teachers these days are so scared of the students as well as their parents. Teachers in today's schools have all the burden but none of the authority. We place huge expectations on teachers to groom our children, yet tie their hands with unrealistic rules of conduct rendering the teachers have all the responsiblities and no authority, whereas the students have all the authority but refuse to act responsibly. You call this an ideal classroom environment? I contend that if we want our children to be properly educated and become responsible citizens, we, as parents, must instead provide as much support as possible to the teachers.

I fully agree that whatever form of disciplines must take into account the child's human dignity and cultivate the spirit of peace, consistent with a child's rights. I am not asking teachers to do the extreme like make students kneel on spiky durian skin or tie them up next to a nest of ants! I am merely asking teachers to be provided with a symbol of authority that the students understand, respect and fear. We can turn things round, if only the parents are convinced of the dire need for strict discipline in schools, if only the Malaysian government makes the decree official.

Calling all parents, please would you stop being so over-protective of your children - at the cost of their futures?

Mind Over Age

The secret to looking young?

Well, age is just another digit.

You have to think young as it's all in the mind.

If you don't let it affect you, you will continue to be young.

I suppose at my age, I have to keep a 30-year-old mindset.

... And constantly trying to forget how old I actually am.

Good eh?

The King of Snookers

Have just finished watching the final episode of the latest TVB drama series "The King of Snookers". As the name of the show stands, the storyline revolves around the game of snooker. It has excellent cast : Adam Cheng, Niki Chow, Patrick Tang, Joyce Tang and Derek Kok. Quite entertaining though, and at the same time, you get to learn a thing or two about the game. I must admit that some of the 'stunts' scene were overly exaggerating.


The game snooker, certainly did bring back good memories. During my days in London, you could find me gluing to the TV set watching snooker tournament instead of football matches. The masters during my era were Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor, Steve Davies, and of course, my favourite player Jimmy White. Snooker, being a 'British' game, the World Championship were dominated by British players. Most of the above mentioned masters have been honoured MBE or OBE, not bad huh?


As predicted, the Hang Seng Index dipped when the serial first aired ... the Hongkies call it the Adam Cheng's effect... believe it or not?


Joyce Tang is very very pretty at her age. And Derek Kok, he is an excellent actor, he played kungfu master, he played evil, he played gay, he does every role so well.

As for Patrick Tang, this could be his big break. He started out as a calefare and finally he gets a role that actually focuses on him. I quite like him and I think he sings well. We bumped into him at the Elements in Hong Kong last year. He was very friendly and nodded when my girl asked for a photo together.

Yassy and HIM - the King of Snooker


So, for the final episode, both master and his deciple come to settle their scores on the snooker table. And, it is happy ending for everyone.


Ever since this serial has been aired, my son has 'secretly' took up the game. He cut out a mock snooker table from hardboard, gathered a few marbles and started potting and making fancy hand bridge styles.


Noticing his flair for snooker, I went out and bought him his first mini snooker table. Man, he was overjoyed!

Presenting the 桌球新人王 - Joshua T

Where Chips and Cheese Unite

While watching TVB's documentary "Vanishing Glacier", I was seriously craving for some nice, warm munchies.


Went into the kitchen, this bag of Chachos Tortilla Chips was just lying there begging to be eaten. Without hesitation, I chopped up a few cherry tomatoes, lay them out over a layer of tortilla chips, covered them with grated cheese and slot them into the oven toaster to heat up. I was too lazying to slice up some onions hence the omission.


Within minutes, I presented the "piping hot calorie laden Cheese Nachos".

Note the melty orange snack food in all its gooey glory. Definitely the perfect nosh in the nights in front of the TV. Even without the addition of onions and Jalapenos, this plate of homemade cheese nachos was devoured in no time ...

Jackie Chan - Triggered Fury

Jackie Chan is in deep shit for making comments that had created yet another storm.

We still remember how he got into trouble in 2004 when he described the Taiwanese presidential election as the “biggest joke in the world”. Jackie also once told the forum he would not buy a television made in China because he was afraid it might explode. Instead, he said, he would buy one from Japan.

This time, Jackie attended a business forum in Hainan and was quoted as saying the following statement,

"I don't know whether it is better to have freedom or to have no freedom... With too much freedom ... it can get very chaotic, could end up like in Hong Kong or like in Taiwan... I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled."

His comments were applauded by the Chinese audience but did not sit well with the lawmakers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Negative reactions and commentaries have since been flying round criticising Jackie for lack of knowledge on the current China's situation and ignorant of democracy as well as the rule of law. Some even accused him for basing his statement on the discriminatory view that Chinese people cannot manage themselves and is built on the idea that Chinese are like a herd of sheep that lack self-discipline and self-restraint. How on earth could people put words into one's mouth just like that?

Obviously, he’s entitled to his opinion. I agree that having super-star status should make people more cautious of what ideas they are promoting.

Why do people insist on taking actors’ political statements seriously? Most actors never even finished high school. People with very different backgrounds tend to have outlandish opinions...at least in my experience... You can tell by the wording Jackie used that he is not exactly a super intellectual thinker. The man is a genius at stunts.

I respect his work and the career he has forged through decades of blood, sweat, tears and many, many broken bones. He has been very active in many charities, and he has given away millions of dollars, mostly to children’s causes.

So, give that man some breathing space. Let's not have Barack Obama jumping out of burning buildings, and let's not take Jackie Chan seriously when it comes to political rhetoric.

Nick is The Best

Congrats to Nick

I stayed past over my normal sleeping time yesterday night, just to catch the result of the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards which was being live-casted on Astro Ch311.

When they announced the nominees list months ago, I was already all anxious to predict the result. My favourite being Nick Cheung Ka Fai, who portrayed a kidnapper who struggles to care for his wife in the action thriller "Beast Stalker". He faces off with Tony Leung Chiu Wai who played a Chinese general in "Red Cliff", top-tiered martial arts star Donnie Yen Chi Tan, who played "Ip Man", Simon Yam Tat Wah in "Sparrow", and heartthrob Louis Koo Tin Lok, who portrayed a gangster who struggles to give up a life of crime in "Run Papa Run".

As Tony Leung has run out of space in his cabinets to house more trophies, I personally think he should gently step aside and give the rest a chance to shine. Never really fancy Simon Yam, plus the fact that I fell asleep watching "Sparrow", therefore is a definite "No" to Simon. Louis Koo, the lang-chai, is always on my list of favourite actors. If it were in "Strong Connection" that he was being nominated, I might have voted for him. At the end, I was just torn between Nick Cheung and Donnie Yen. Undeniably, "Ip Man" was Donnie best role from an acting standpoint. Tough decision, isn't?

Well, the result was : "Ip Man" won the Best Film award whereas Nick landed with the Best Actor award.

With regards to "Beast Stalker", there is a saying that there aren't any beasts so evil than of the human heart alone. Greed, money, power and freedom, all comes with a price, that's seems to be the message from the film. The other lead actor, Nicholas Tse, although not being nominated for the film award, has improved tremendously in his acting. Nonetheless, Nick Cheung is the best. With his sob dilemma, his conflicted anti-hero role, he was able to convincingly portrayed compassion, dedication and unflinching brutality. Who else can do that?

Undeniably, "Ip Man" was in a league of its own, the best kung-fu film of recent memory.

Very touching when he hugged and kissed his wife Esther after the announcement, and not forgetting to thank her in his speech.

Well done Nick, you are FAB!