DNA#55 August'2004 & Reichen

Here's the eye-candy for the month of August.

Although, what's inside was even better. They had some write-ups and photo spread (only decent ones though!) of Reichen, one-half of that famous gay couple [although they had un(?)fortunately went their own separate ways, ever since] from the hit reality TV show The Amazing Race 2.

Here's a sneak peek of yummilicious Reichen.. Mmmmmm..

That one's specially dedicated to Jer.

;-)

August updates

I've been so behind when it comes to doing my blog lately.
Just that been so busybusyBUSY.
*sigh*
More back-posted updates for (first 3 weeks of) August today.
Just click on the August 2004 Archives for easier viewing.

.. *drool*..!

Leatherfest

Party on tonight!
;-)

I won a freebie!

Yay.. I won another CD freebie! It was from one of the contest in a local free music/lifestyle newspaper/magazine.

When I checked one of the Sanity website describing the double CD I had won, here what it says:

The perfect "after hours" soundtrack features 36 heartfelt tracks sung by women FOR women.

FOR women? WTF?
Well women or not, I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy the music. It IS a free CD for me after all.

Here are the Track Listing:

Disk 1
1. Gabrielle - Out Of Reach
2. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
3. Macy Gray - Still
4. Leonardo's Bride - Even When I'm Sleeping
5. Everything But The Girl - Missing (Todd Terry Remix)
6. Bic Runga - Sway
7. Sophie B. Hawkins - As I Lay Me Down
8. Eurythmics - Don't Ask Me Why
9. Sam Brown - Stop
10. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - Circle
11. Fairground Attraction - Moon On The Rain
12. Missy Higgins - The Special Two
13. Keri Noble - Talk To Me
14. Jewel - Foolish Games
15. Tori Amos - Winter
16. Tina Arena - Chains
17. Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last
18. Marianne Faithfull - The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan

Disk 2
1. Alicia Keys - Fallin'
2. Kylie Minogue - Put Yourself In My Place
3. Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
4. Tina Turner - Private Dancer
5. Dan Greenwood - Only One
6. Sinead O'connor - Jealous
7. Tanita Tikaram - Twist In My Sobriety
8. Sugababes - Shape
9. Paul Mac Featuring Abby Dobson - Gonna Miss You
10. Texas - Say What You Want
11. Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough
12. Divinyls - I'm On Your Side
13. Stevie Nicks - Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You
14. Natalie Merchant - Carnival
15. Beth Hart - L.A. Song (Out Of This Town)
16. Janis Joplin - A Woman Left Lonely
17. Bette Midler - The Rose
18. Dj Sammy & Yanou Featuring Do - heaven (Candlelight)

I am so proud of myself.. heh!
*pats on my shoulder*

Guests from Holland

Today, we are receiving some guests who'd be staying at our place for a few days.

The guests, Han and Ton, a gay-couple from Holland, were introduced to us by my friend Khim who lives in France, who told us that the Dutch couple were driving down the coast of W.A. from Darwin to Perth for their few weeks holidays, so we invited them to stay over at our place during their Perth stop.

So, in the next 4 days, I'll be getting busy entertaining our very own first 'couple' guests, staying over at our tiny little place we call home. :-)

I just hope, they'll feel comfortable during their stay here..

Welcome to Athens 2004

I was still high from watching the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony re-run on TV last night, and just couldn't wait to see the one for Athens.

Like everybody said, if the Greeks manage to pull this one successfully, the rest of the games should be doing well. And they certainly did.

The Athens ceremony started with a beautiful water-filled stadium floor, and then the Olympics rings on the surface of the water were lit by a 'flying meteor', and what a truly splendid start it was!

After that, throughout the gala opening, there were lots of visual effects which were really captivating, beautifully captured the essence of the rich Greek history, its culture and its role in introducing the modern Olympics to the rest of the modern world. Even the Greek Gods and all the mythical characters weren't spared from taking part in the show!

They might have used less volunteers in the performances (compare to Sydney games), but with what they lack, they truly shine in the 'red-carpet' walk of the Greeks visual culture, displayed chronologically while going around the stadium.

I was truly impressed, and were so happy for the Athens Olympic committee.
Am definitely looking forward to watch the rest of the 2004 Olympic Games..

I'm so much into the Olympics mood now.
And I got my Olympic Swatch to prove it too!
;-)

Sydney Olympics re-run

In about less than 2 hours time, the main opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympics would be shown live on Channel 7. But I just couldn't be arsed to wait for it. Because, it only starts at 1:30am! And wouldn't finish until about 5:30am. WTF eh?

Haven't you heard of time-zoning?
Oh.

Instead, I chose to watch the re-run of the Sydney 2000 Olympics opening ceremony, also shown on Channel 7. Bloody excellent I tell 'ya!

Some people say, it was only because the Australians just couldn't help to accept that Olympics in Sydney was so over, and they would love to think that the Greeks would never able to achieve the same success as theirs. At least when it comes to the opening gala party anyway.

Whatever.

All I know is, I missed the Sydney opening ceremony because of the fucking bad TV reception (damn you RTM!) on my TV at my place, back then in KL. So, this time I made sure I won't missed it. Didn't I tell you.., it was EXCELLENT!

I can always catch the Athens ceremony tomorrow morning, when they do a re-run of it at 9:30am.

Smart me, eh?
;-)

Memo update

Been really busy lately sorting out my studies, and of course back-posting my blog entries, as noted in my memo in the side bar today:

Memo - CHUP.. sat!

Yes, I'm BACK!

In fact I've been back for nearly 3 weeks, but just been too busy getting back to my studying routine, and home life too..

If you are still interested to what happened during my recent trip back to Kuala Lumpur (from the 10th until 25th July 2004), then you can just scroll down and click on my July 2004 Archives. That way it'll be easier for you to just scroll down your screen and read the whole lot.. :-)

[Which is why I still need a laptop so that I could update my blog easier! An iBook would DEFINITELY work just fine for me.., please.. anyone?!! Hehe.. ;-)]

And.. *sigh..* it's definitely nice to be back home..

And it's nice to be back blogging too! ;-)

Olympians

You just know that the Olympics is just around the corner, when most of the newspaper start to print a picture of half-naked men on their front cover..

*mmmmmmmm*
And I'm NOT complaining!

Oh my.. what a day!

Despite my sudden excitement to the recent episode of Oz on SBS last week, I was just feeling too bloodyfreakin' exhausted to even flicked on the TV remote tonight.

Yeah, it had been THAT full long day, today.

Went to college early in the morning, and didn't even get home until close to 7pm. Then gotta start doing the cooking for dinner too (I'm a good husband, you see. Hehe..)

It was just that, there was so much catching up needed to be done in my classes, specially when it comes to the current projects and assignment.

*sigh*

I better go to bed now, and just try to sleep and rest. I totally need it.

The ultra-cool Ocean's Eleven

I can't remember how many times I've seen this before, but tonight, I've decided to watch it again, but only because Neil hasn't seen the movie Ocean's Eleven before, so it would be nice to sit and cuddle on the sofa, and watch it together this time..

Besides, I still think the movie (at least the current remake, not the original Rat Pack one, since I've never got a chance to see that one yet) is so bloody cool!

Uhm, er, and George Clooney is in it too.
Of course! What was I thinking, eh?! :-P

Anything with George Clooney in it, count me in baby.

Anyway, despite already known the whole plot lines, I still fine the whole movie entertaining. Maybe I just love such genre, you know, all this good-guys-as-the-bad-guys thingy, with a little bit of big-time-stealing-job plan thrown in, and not forgetting a cool soundtrack in the background too.

And then, there Julia Roberts too. With that elegant entry scene, how can we all not love that girl?!

I still think My Best Friend's Wedding was her best yet though, and only because she got Rupert Everett.. hehe

Anyway, as what already been known to public, the producers are in the process of making its sequel, Ocean's Twelve - duh! - so, it is definitely something to look out for.

It'd be interesting to find out who's gonna be their 12th member, and with Julia being pregnant during the filming, I just can't wait some maternal hormones sizzle around between the main cast.

And as long as they stick to the formula, I couldn't see why it can not be a success.

And of course, Clooney's sweet sexy smile would always help too!

Happy birthday Pinat!

In the true traditions of August birthday babies, today IS another birthday for another dear friend of mine, Pinat.

I sent her a quick Birthday SMS text message, while were driving down to Fremantle for our Sunday drive, in this beautiful sunny and clear blue sky winter day.

On one hand, we had such a good time in Fremantle.

We looked around at the new WA Maritime Museum and then had a scrumptious English breakfast - I know, NOT healthy! Hehe.. - for lunch, which really set back on the amount of walking we had done earlier on.

Then, we continued our sightseeing, along the famous cappucino strip and also made a few stops to a few shops, including a small bookstore for a quick browse.

On the other hand, Pinat didn't quite have a great start on her birthday.

In her reply, she told me that she had another row with her mom, and for the umpteenth time she was asked to leave her mom house.. again.

I felt really sorry for Pinat, but considering my distance, there's nothing much that I could do besides offering her comfort and ears for her to share her problems.

Despite the unfortunate bad start to her birthday, I wish her all the best, hoping that things would get better for her from then.

Happy Birthday Pinat!
We wish you all our love.. And please take good care of yourself too..

Singing In The Rain

Tonight for the first time in my life, I watched Singing In The Rain on the telly.

And I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed it.

Why my surprised? It was all because I wasn't really a big fan of Gene Kelly in the first place. You see, Cary Grant? He's OKAY! *drools a little bit there* But not Kelly.

Besides lacking in the good looks department, Gene Kelly also lacks that highly-desirable on-screen sizzling charisma. And his voice was a tad bit ordinary too. Lacking that manly oomph.

But if there's one thing I can salute him, it HAS to be his talent in dancing.

He could burn the dance floor any time he likes, and it would always be awesome. And Debbie Reynolds didn't do bad either in this movie.

And it's funny how we had only just seen her recently, making a cameo in Connie and Carla (starring Nia Vardalos and Toni Colette), which we saw in Singapore, and tonight, there she was, all so young and beautiful, singing and dancing her way into Gene Kelly's character's heart.

unfortunately, we didn't see the stage production of this movie, which were shown in Perth a few months back, or else, it would have been great to see how the great charisma between the original roles in the movie - and not forgetting those cooly-choreographed dance moves - being translated for live audiences.

Maybe next time..

Crazy/Beautiful

Watched a little bit of the teenage love story Crazy/Beautiful, starring Jay Hernandez and the talented Kirsten Dunst.

Even though I only the last half of the movie, it wasn't so hard to figure out the whole plot of the movie, because it was pretty much a standard formula in which the rich girl meet and fall in love with the poor boy. In this case, totally unacceptable in the class conscious society, which had been used countless times in any Bollywood movie productions.

Despite the obvious, this was still a beautiful movie, made even special by the convincing acting of Kirsten Dunst and the oh-so-cute jay Hernandez.



As a matter of fact, I could just sit there and looked at Jay alone and I'd be doing just fine, but it would probably do nothing good for the movie at all.

So, yeah, it was a good romatic date movie to watch (at least for the last half of it that I managed to catch) and YES, Jay Hernandez is one helluva cute boy. :-)

Happy birthday Alfie!

Ever since I sorted out the study thing at TAFE last Tuesday, I've also made myself busy doing a little bit of spring cleaning in the study, especially getting all my study notes and past projects neatly compiled and ready (for references purposes), and ensuring all my drawing materials to be found in its place.

However, with all these whole lotta stuff running through my head, I still remember the fact that today's my dear Alfie's birthday!

Unfortunately, unlike the previous years when I actually called him up in UK, and wished him over the phone, I missed the chance to do so today, and had to be happy with a mere SMS text and an email Birthday wishes.

Besides, he seemed to be very occupied lately too, based on his last email stating that he got a new job in Cardiff, and would be moving there too, from his old place in Birmingham.

I hope Faris (who's in London at the moment, for work) would have better chance in celebrating and wishing Alfie's Happy Birthday there in UK personally..

Happy Birthday Alfie!
Wishing you all the best and lots of fun *wink wink nudge nudge* in this special day of yours!
;-)

All Saints' The Videos DVD

I've been watching and listening to this DVD over and over again the whole morning, and I still not fed up with it!

Hehehe.. :-)

It was just that I've always LOVE the last album of the group titled Saints & Sinners, with so many great tunes such as: Pure Shores, Black Coffee, and All Hooked Up, and the fact that William Orbit was involved with the production of the album just made it even better.

So, naturally, I would also inclined to like the videos which come together with such great music, and this DVD really satisfies that lust!

With a few addition from the older songs (from their previous album), the whole videos collection simply portrays and treasures the girls' musical talents (and great looks too) at their best.

Happy birthday Norzeen!

It's Norzeen's birthday today.

I haven't seen her for a long while, the last time being in KLCC in late 2001, when I asked for her favour to use her office's photocopy, when I need to make copies of some documents needed to be submitted to the Aussie High commission in KL, when I was applying for my student visa. Old story.

Anyway, the last news I heard from her was when I was in Madrid for our Christmas holidays last year, and that she was quitting her job and moving to Germany.

And I haven't heard from her ever since.

Midnight last night I sent her an email wishing her Happy Birthday (and crossing my fingers that she actually reads them!) and earlier this morning at TAFE, sent her a Birthday SMS text message to the Germany handphone number she last gave.

And my efforts were not wasted at all. :-)

Later today, I received a reply from her via the SMS, and she said thanks and how she's been doing okay, ever since she moves and works in Germany. And we promised to catch up more over the emails too..

I really missed her, and Alfie, and Faris, and a few other people who used to be in the gang, and we were VERY close together back in Junior high school time..

Miss you all guys..

And.. Happy Birthday Norzeen!

All sorted

Yesterday was a long day at TAFE, when I took some time to discuss with one of my tutor, trying to sort out the subjects I could take for the new term.

It was really worth the effort, because he really helped clearing up the mess in my mind regarding my studies, and also tried to get me back to focus on my studies.

Early today, I went back to TAFE to finish up with my enrollments, and thank God, everything went fine. Although it took more than a week to sort things out, all what matter now is that I can get back focusing on my studies.

My first class would start very soon, and with this all renewed energy and hope, I just can't wait to finish the Building Design & Drafting (recently re-named as Building Design & Technology) course that I've started for the past 2 years or so..

Just got to stay focus.. and keep up with the pace!

*PS: With the happy outcome at college, I went to the city after that all in high moods, and ended up buying a few DVDs which were on sale at JB-HiFi, and they are All Saints' The Videos and Victor/Victoria (starring Julie Andrews). Hehe.. :-P

Focus boy.. FO-CUS!!

Oz

SBS Channel has been screening the TV series Oz for a while, and I've seen one or two episodes, but were never really got hooked into watching the whole show.

But today had been a rather long day at TAFE, with me still trying to sort out my subjects for the new term, and at the moment Neil's been surfing on the net. So I got nothing much else to do to unwind, so I decided to sit still and watch tonight's episode of Oz.

And boy, did I have a nice surprise!

One of the main factor that had caught my attention about this series, was the fact that Christopher Meloni, the actor from the other TV show Law and Order: SVU (Special Victim's Unit) also act in this prison story.

I've always impressed (and a little bit smitten too!.. Hehe..) with Meloni ever since I first saw him in SVU, with his great acting and dashingly good looks. What with those piercingly deep blue eyes, that strong chiselled jaw with those sexy thin kissable lips, and don't even get me started on his solid buffed to-die-for athletic body! Oh yeah, baby!!

*drool*

And tonight I wasn't disappointed, because it was also the episode that he appeared, and apparently stayed for the rest of the season.

Although I missed the infamous shower scene, where he did a full frontal, this episode is still crucial because this is when (in this 2nd season of the show) we would be introduced to his gay love interest in the romantic form of Tobias Beecher (by an actor Lee Tergesen)!

What made the whole thing even MORE interesting was the fact that this love story between the two hunky guys carried on into a few more seasons of Oz, so it would be definitely worth watching the developments of this two characters.

Tonight's episode was the one when Tobias first realized his crush towards Keller (Meloni's character), and how he'd been secretly admire Keller, while Keller knowingly keep flirting with the poor guy by flexing his muscles and exposing his crotch seductively while sleeping in his boxer shorts. (Yep, they also happen to be cell-mate too!) Yummy!

*drool*

All this flirting eventually climaxes in a scene when the two boys decided they couldn't take it any longer, therefore there started smooching (hallelujah!) in the laundry - aww.. so romantic, isn't it? - much to the disgust to their fellow prison mates nearby..

The episode ended with the boys being separated, and Keller being put in a solitary confinement for defying the order of the prison officers to behave (haha) himself, while Beecher were being left alone in his cell (poor guy!), pondering upon the consequences of his kissing and the exposure of his feelings towards Keller.

I was so charged up by tonight's episode, and I'm pretty damn sure, I'll be checking out the developments of these two lovebirds in the future episode of Oz.

Let's just say SBS just got another permanent fan for their Monday night's slot (and I used to be one too, back when they showed the last season of Queer As Folk).

And BOY, did I tell you how HOT Chris Meloni really looks, with that naughty glint in his gorgeous deep-blue eyes, and oh that totally buffed manly body of his?
I want more!!

Of prosperous suburbs and The Others

Still in the spirit of It Feels So Good to Be Home, we went for a drive around Perth area, in particular the more prosperous suburbs of Mosman Park/Dalkeith/North Freemantle.. just to set our bearings back, especially after seeing Bangsar and Damansara Heights in Kuala Lumpur.

And well what can I say? At least here in Perth, the big houses are slightly more reasonable in style, with plenty of moderation. Nothing excessive nor yucky. Except for a few stray ones (which were probably owned by some Singaporean businessmen.. So definitely can't be helped there).

At night time, after dinner, there was the movie The Others starring Aussie's all-time-sweetheart Nicole Kidman, shown on Channel 7.

Since there was nothing else to do tonight, I've decided to watch this critically acclaimed movie.

For a start, the pace of the movie was so damn slow! I was on the verge of turning mad, just for the first one hour of the movie. So that instead of just sitting there on the sofa, getting excruciatingly bored to death, I decided to do a little of washing up the dishes, and cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

And it wasn't a bad idea after all.

Not only I got to do the cleaning up (rather than wait later before bed time), the movie picked up its pace in the later part of it. And my attention was finally caught by it this time around.

As the movie unfolds further, there was so much twists and turns, that the wait wasn't a waste of time after all.

I wouldn't dwell further in the details of the plot, but let's just say that if you like the surprise bit in the movie Sixth Sense (starring that boy Harvey Joel Osment with his very famous lines, "I see dead people.."), then you'll definitely love this one too.

In the end, everything falls back in place, and all the boring bits in the earlier part of the movie, slowly unfolds and explained in the end.

All I can say is, I wasn't disappointed with the whole movie at all, except that if only they had edited it better to tightens up the earlier part of the show, I would have been even more happier.

Not bad for a Sunday night movie..