Really cool songs are usually not big commercial successes or chart toppers. There has to be something with the melody and/or lyrics that makes it special.
First on my list has to be Lou Reed, his drug laced, brash lyrics and mind numbing bass line and melody make this in a class of its own.
Just to prove that punk bands also can come up with gems, The Stranglers shine here.
How to be sexy, breathy and lyrics that are suggestive but goes nowhere with soaring vocals. Chris Isaak at his best.
Listen first and see how compact and loud this band is, and there are only 3 of them The highly under rated Rush from Canada with their biggest hit.
The brilliant, enigmatic, in your face performer Annie Lennox ... in all her glory and talent, powerful lyrics to boot.
For all of Pink Floyd's brilliance, this song somehow stays with us for the longest time. Its the title I guess. So cool.
If The Beatles never existed, we'd be talking about The Beach Boys. Not many of us appreciate the musical genius of the band, in particular with Brian Wilson. This song can be broken up into 3 songs, thats how good their composition can be and what about their harmonies.
Roy Orbison, under rated, this song revived in a duet with kd lang only accentuated his musical brilliance and unique voice.
Santana at his best, this song makes love to you at the start, caresses you then brings you to musical orgasm with his riveting solo.
Friday, 30 November 2012
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
The Pink Elephant In The Room
You are in a room in a social setting with a few people and there is a pink elephant in the room as well. How long can you carry on before you start talking about the pink elephant? In local financial markets, the pink elephant is the results of the upcoming elections. What if?
My opinion, for what it is worth, the ruling party mightl win only one state in the Peninsula, I find it very hard to see where the second state is coming from. What about phantom voters and rigged votes? That can only be used in close seats, its pointless to use rigged votes in all seats, and I think there are not enough of such votes to go around town.
Whether its Anwar or the leader from PAS as PM, I don't think thats an issue anymore. PKR may lose some votes on that but miniscule.
Will there be a hung parliament? I think that is the best the ruling party can hope for, a hung parliament. Then its a jockeying of candidates to move to one side or another. Not a good situation. However, I do think in a hung parliament situation, the momentum will favour people moving to PKR rather than the other way around. Because a hung parliament already means, the tide has shifted significantly, and shifting still, ... for politicians with a bit of brains, a sinking ship or a new ship - no contest.
If the opposition wins convincingly, what will happen to the stock market? I read in the front page of The Star, of all places, the front page!!! Talk about media propaganda. Scare tactics started already.
First of all, there are three components, one is foreign funds, two local funds, three retail funds. As the election draws closer (say two weeks to elections), retail funds would exit already. Local funds being local funds will stay put, anyway, the big local funds already controlled the indexed stocks.
The key scare tactic is to instil into the public that foreign funds will exit and cause a plunge. Let's look at the size of foreign funds. They make up around 20% of volume. Look at the stock they hold: Public Bank, IOI Corp, KLK, BAT, Guinness, DIGI, IHH .... there are very few that are holding big local indexed GLCs. Ask any genuine head of sales or head of research NOW, they will tell you most of their clients are soooo underweight Malaysia, even though the controlled mainstream media would want you to believe otherwise.
Look at the stocks above, will the fundamentals change significantly for these stocks should there be a change in government???? Thailand changes government every couple of years, see what happened to their civil service and listed companies .... same-same!!! Just because this is going to be our first time, its easier to put up scare tactics cause we have not travelled this path before.
I believe the level of foreign shareholdings in local stocks are low, and they are in "safe counters" anyway. So, the sell down will be minimal. A probable fact that not many realise is that a substantial amount of the so called foreign funds now who are long Malaysian stocks,.... are probably Malaysian owned funds rerouted, no need for me to go into possible details.
A recent report in The Star, UOB KayHian's Vincent Khoo was unconvinced on the local market stating in a report that foreign institutional funds that it had met were mostly underweight on Malaysia and continued to be “wary” of Malaysia's index components' high valuations.
Top Ten Issues That Divide Malaysians according to a survey by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research
I am not trying to put up a rosy picture should there be a change in government. I am trying to put up a realistic picture. Yes, markets will go down and stay there for a couple of months until there is stability, a proper manifesto and proper execution that things are different. I see index could go to 1,400-1,450 temporarily. But consider this:
- there will be more "real tenders of government projects"
- there will be better utilisation and accountability of our "big revenue items"
- there will still be corruption but hopefully a bit less, but let's give them 5 years la ... we gave 50 to someone, we cannot give them 5???
We so badly need a two party system in our country for the democratisation process to make any headway.
My opinion, for what it is worth, the ruling party mightl win only one state in the Peninsula, I find it very hard to see where the second state is coming from. What about phantom voters and rigged votes? That can only be used in close seats, its pointless to use rigged votes in all seats, and I think there are not enough of such votes to go around town.
Whether its Anwar or the leader from PAS as PM, I don't think thats an issue anymore. PKR may lose some votes on that but miniscule.
Will there be a hung parliament? I think that is the best the ruling party can hope for, a hung parliament. Then its a jockeying of candidates to move to one side or another. Not a good situation. However, I do think in a hung parliament situation, the momentum will favour people moving to PKR rather than the other way around. Because a hung parliament already means, the tide has shifted significantly, and shifting still, ... for politicians with a bit of brains, a sinking ship or a new ship - no contest.
If the opposition wins convincingly, what will happen to the stock market? I read in the front page of The Star, of all places, the front page!!! Talk about media propaganda. Scare tactics started already.
First of all, there are three components, one is foreign funds, two local funds, three retail funds. As the election draws closer (say two weeks to elections), retail funds would exit already. Local funds being local funds will stay put, anyway, the big local funds already controlled the indexed stocks.
The key scare tactic is to instil into the public that foreign funds will exit and cause a plunge. Let's look at the size of foreign funds. They make up around 20% of volume. Look at the stock they hold: Public Bank, IOI Corp, KLK, BAT, Guinness, DIGI, IHH .... there are very few that are holding big local indexed GLCs. Ask any genuine head of sales or head of research NOW, they will tell you most of their clients are soooo underweight Malaysia, even though the controlled mainstream media would want you to believe otherwise.
Look at the stocks above, will the fundamentals change significantly for these stocks should there be a change in government???? Thailand changes government every couple of years, see what happened to their civil service and listed companies .... same-same!!! Just because this is going to be our first time, its easier to put up scare tactics cause we have not travelled this path before.
I believe the level of foreign shareholdings in local stocks are low, and they are in "safe counters" anyway. So, the sell down will be minimal. A probable fact that not many realise is that a substantial amount of the so called foreign funds now who are long Malaysian stocks,.... are probably Malaysian owned funds rerouted, no need for me to go into possible details.
A recent report in The Star, UOB KayHian's Vincent Khoo was unconvinced on the local market stating in a report that foreign institutional funds that it had met were mostly underweight on Malaysia and continued to be “wary” of Malaysia's index components' high valuations.
Top Ten Issues That Divide Malaysians according to a survey by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research
I am not trying to put up a rosy picture should there be a change in government. I am trying to put up a realistic picture. Yes, markets will go down and stay there for a couple of months until there is stability, a proper manifesto and proper execution that things are different. I see index could go to 1,400-1,450 temporarily. But consider this:
- there will be more "real tenders of government projects"
- there will be better utilisation and accountability of our "big revenue items"
- there will still be corruption but hopefully a bit less, but let's give them 5 years la ... we gave 50 to someone, we cannot give them 5???
We so badly need a two party system in our country for the democratisation process to make any headway.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Why Bruce Lee
Because he is the triumph of mind over body... because he is faster than the rest of us .... because he is cocky and cool and he can afford to be .... because he is human and yet superhuman at the same time ... because he is just like us with faults and all and yet he is a higher being ... because he brought us beauty in movements and reflexes ... because he can be the most intense person in the room and his focus can be soul-penetrating ... because he showed us the extent of human potential ...
Below is a FOOTAGE of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with normal humans. My God, the focus, the assuredness, the skill, being one with your instrument, mind blowing ... but is it real ... it even looked real ...
Sigh ... and we all wanted it to be true and real .... but Bruce Lee is still Bruce Lee no matter what
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Bruce Lee (left) completing a roundhouse kick as he pelts a ping pong ball into oblivion with his nunchucks. Photo: Still from video. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
First of all, you may be wondering what an article about Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks is doing on a kids books site. There are 2 reasons. One, what kid wouldn’t love to see a video of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks? Two, I wrote this article long before I re-branded my site to focus on kids books, and I didn’t want to disappoint all of my readers who have linked to this page. Now for the fun stuff…
I seriously thought I’d seen it all. Then a friend of mine shared this video on Facebook. Seriously, nunchucks? If you’ve never seen Bruce Lee then you need to watch this video right now. If you have seen Bruce Lee then you’ll probably laugh and shake your head as you watch him effortlessly whack ping pong balls with nunchucks — not to mention the fact that his TWO opponents are freakishly good at ping pong. Amazing.
PART OF THE TRUTH
Now that you’ve been blown away I can tell you part of the truth. This video is a promotional video made to promote the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee edition phone, a $1,290 mobile device — approximately 8,788 Chinese yuan — available only in Hong Kong and China. Apparently it’s been a very successful viral campaign.
Nokia N96 Bruce Lee Edition Mobile Phone. Photo
Bruce Lee Mobile Phone Accessories. Photo
Countless blogs and Websites, including the official Nokia blog, are trying to figure out if this is an actual video of Bruce Lee. But all the author of the post on the official Nokia blog has to say is “Oh, and, the speculation since this was released has been rife as to whether or not the video is real, faked using CGI or faked using a Bruce Lee impersonator. We don’t know either, but we’ll endeavor to find out.”
Is it Bruce or not? Some Bruce Lee fans swear this is not Bruce Lee because his body proportions are not correct and he didn’t do his famous 1 inch punch. Others say it’s definitely the “Little Dragon” and that Nokia inserted digital footage of the master himself into the video. There’s even a “Making of the Bruce Lee Ping Pong” video on YouTube that disappoints. It shows nothing of the making of the video but commentary from a random actor who says inserting Bruce Lee into campaigns like this only adds to his legacy. As of this writing there is nothing on snopes.com except debate.
MY QUEST FOR TRUTH
So what is one to do when even the source is shrouded in secrecy? I decided to do what I hadn’t seen anyone else do.
First I used Google to translate “Bruce Lee” into simplified Chinese.
Bruce Lee in simplified Chinese = 李小龙
Next, armed with modern linguistic translation power I went to the Chinese Nokia Website (via Google’s translator) and entered the Chinese characters into the the search bar. Nothing. However, searching for “N96” in English produced the non-Bruce Lee phone product page, which did not translate very well since most of the characters were graphics.
HUNT DOWN THE ART DIRECTOR
Since the official Nokia bloggers wouldn’t fess up, the original Flash site is now nothing but a junk site, and the Internet Wayback machine offered nothing but blank screens, I had no choice but to find the agency that created the viral in the first place. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? It seemed like such an obvious solution.
Bingo.
Created by JWT Beijing, the Bruce Lee Ping Pong viral ad was an instant success. After only 24 hours the 10 second teaser had generated 700,000 views. 2 days later the full spot ran with a product shot and URL directing people to a microsite where they could order the limited edition phone.
In this interview with Agency.Asia, Chief Creative Officer, Polly Chu, gracefully dodges Agency.Asia’s attempt to elicit information as to whether the ad was fake. But she finally had this to say:
“Yes, we discussed with the director how to make it look like a never-seen-before secret footage of Bruce Lee. The director took a great effort to study Bruce Lee and found the right talent. We used an up and coming local Chinese director whose passion could be seen in every second of the film.”
So now you’ve heard it straight from the Chief Creative Officer. They were trying to make it look like something it wasn’t; and, after studying Bruce Lee, they found the “right talent”.
Clearly this is a brilliant example of viral creative — interesting enough to spread like wildfire and controversial enough to stir passionate debate among its viewers.
Well done JWT Beijing.
Below is a FOOTAGE of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with normal humans. My God, the focus, the assuredness, the skill, being one with your instrument, mind blowing ... but is it real ... it even looked real ...
Sigh ... and we all wanted it to be true and real .... but Bruce Lee is still Bruce Lee no matter what
Bruce Lee Plays Ping Pong With Nunchucks — The Truth Revealed!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Bruce Lee (left) completing a roundhouse kick as he pelts a ping pong ball into oblivion with his nunchucks. Photo: Still from video. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
First of all, you may be wondering what an article about Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks is doing on a kids books site. There are 2 reasons. One, what kid wouldn’t love to see a video of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks? Two, I wrote this article long before I re-branded my site to focus on kids books, and I didn’t want to disappoint all of my readers who have linked to this page. Now for the fun stuff…
I seriously thought I’d seen it all. Then a friend of mine shared this video on Facebook. Seriously, nunchucks? If you’ve never seen Bruce Lee then you need to watch this video right now. If you have seen Bruce Lee then you’ll probably laugh and shake your head as you watch him effortlessly whack ping pong balls with nunchucks — not to mention the fact that his TWO opponents are freakishly good at ping pong. Amazing.
PART OF THE TRUTH
Now that you’ve been blown away I can tell you part of the truth. This video is a promotional video made to promote the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee edition phone, a $1,290 mobile device — approximately 8,788 Chinese yuan — available only in Hong Kong and China. Apparently it’s been a very successful viral campaign.
Nokia N96 Bruce Lee Edition Mobile Phone. Photo
Bruce Lee Mobile Phone Accessories. Photo
Countless blogs and Websites, including the official Nokia blog, are trying to figure out if this is an actual video of Bruce Lee. But all the author of the post on the official Nokia blog has to say is “Oh, and, the speculation since this was released has been rife as to whether or not the video is real, faked using CGI or faked using a Bruce Lee impersonator. We don’t know either, but we’ll endeavor to find out.”
Is it Bruce or not? Some Bruce Lee fans swear this is not Bruce Lee because his body proportions are not correct and he didn’t do his famous 1 inch punch. Others say it’s definitely the “Little Dragon” and that Nokia inserted digital footage of the master himself into the video. There’s even a “Making of the Bruce Lee Ping Pong” video on YouTube that disappoints. It shows nothing of the making of the video but commentary from a random actor who says inserting Bruce Lee into campaigns like this only adds to his legacy. As of this writing there is nothing on snopes.com except debate.
MY QUEST FOR TRUTH
So what is one to do when even the source is shrouded in secrecy? I decided to do what I hadn’t seen anyone else do.
First I used Google to translate “Bruce Lee” into simplified Chinese.
Bruce Lee in simplified Chinese = 李小龙
Next, armed with modern linguistic translation power I went to the Chinese Nokia Website (via Google’s translator) and entered the Chinese characters into the the search bar. Nothing. However, searching for “N96” in English produced the non-Bruce Lee phone product page, which did not translate very well since most of the characters were graphics.
HUNT DOWN THE ART DIRECTOR
Since the official Nokia bloggers wouldn’t fess up, the original Flash site is now nothing but a junk site, and the Internet Wayback machine offered nothing but blank screens, I had no choice but to find the agency that created the viral in the first place. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? It seemed like such an obvious solution.
Bingo.
Created by JWT Beijing, the Bruce Lee Ping Pong viral ad was an instant success. After only 24 hours the 10 second teaser had generated 700,000 views. 2 days later the full spot ran with a product shot and URL directing people to a microsite where they could order the limited edition phone.
In this interview with Agency.Asia, Chief Creative Officer, Polly Chu, gracefully dodges Agency.Asia’s attempt to elicit information as to whether the ad was fake. But she finally had this to say:
“Yes, we discussed with the director how to make it look like a never-seen-before secret footage of Bruce Lee. The director took a great effort to study Bruce Lee and found the right talent. We used an up and coming local Chinese director whose passion could be seen in every second of the film.”
So now you’ve heard it straight from the Chief Creative Officer. They were trying to make it look like something it wasn’t; and, after studying Bruce Lee, they found the “right talent”.
Clearly this is a brilliant example of viral creative — interesting enough to spread like wildfire and controversial enough to stir passionate debate among its viewers.
Well done JWT Beijing.
Determination and Focus
The strength of the human spirit always confounds me. Determination and focus. Its not that we can do all things, but we certainly can do most things we put our minds to. Naturally people will say "well, I really really want to be rich", can I do that? I don't think that will happen to everyone even if you have the best teacher or motivational coaches, but at least you would have gave it your best shot. Isn't that most important ... that you have aimed for the stars, pulled back an arrow the best you can and gave it your best shot ... rather than wishing upon a star and slumping back to your regular humdrum activity.
This guy's a champ. .... Just do it ... you'd be amazed at what you can achieve.
This guy's a champ. .... Just do it ... you'd be amazed at what you can achieve.
Monday, 26 November 2012
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Significant Upgrades To Murasaki System
We have had some teething problem early on as we did not expect more than 1,000 trial users would jam our system in the first week. As promised, effective IMMEDIATELY, the load and response time would be cut down from the usual 4-10 seconds per click to less than 2 seconds.
How - Instead of loading over 1,000 stocks ... when you use Murasaki ts on your PC/desktop/notebook, by default it will load just the TOP 300 stocks sorted by M Index (Murasaki Index) and BRH Index, the two most used indicators. We call this the LITE VERSION. You can switch back to view ALL STOCKS by using the drop down menu on the right of your screen.
Further queries, please contact us on: 1800 88 3788
http://www.murasaki.co/tradesensor/welcome.mx
We are very excited when we tested the new version on our IPADs, IPhones and other smartphones (including Samsung). The load times were even faster. But bear in mind that owing to the size of the gadgets, we have to trim down the number of stocks that you can view.
IPAD/Tablet users - When you use Murasaki ts, you will see just the TOP 100 stocks ranked by M Index and BRH Index. Somewhat less than the 300 on PC/notebook, but its still going to be more than sufficient. Please note that you WILL NOT be able to load ALL STOCKS on IPADs or tablets.
Smartphone Users - Owing to the technical specifications and limitations, when you use Smartphones, the system will load only the TOP 50 stocks by M Index and BRH Index. Though not entirely ideal, its the next best thing when you are on the go.
Please use CHROME or SAFARI browser.
Smartphone Layout (Chrome)
Smartphone Layout (Mozilla Firefox)
Final note, all subscribers may ONLY sign into one device/gadget at one time, so please remember to log out of one device before signing onto another.
How - Instead of loading over 1,000 stocks ... when you use Murasaki ts on your PC/desktop/notebook, by default it will load just the TOP 300 stocks sorted by M Index (Murasaki Index) and BRH Index, the two most used indicators. We call this the LITE VERSION. You can switch back to view ALL STOCKS by using the drop down menu on the right of your screen.
Further queries, please contact us on: 1800 88 3788
http://www.murasaki.co/tradesensor/welcome.mx
We are very excited when we tested the new version on our IPADs, IPhones and other smartphones (including Samsung). The load times were even faster. But bear in mind that owing to the size of the gadgets, we have to trim down the number of stocks that you can view.
IPAD/Tablet users - When you use Murasaki ts, you will see just the TOP 100 stocks ranked by M Index and BRH Index. Somewhat less than the 300 on PC/notebook, but its still going to be more than sufficient. Please note that you WILL NOT be able to load ALL STOCKS on IPADs or tablets.
Smartphone Users - Owing to the technical specifications and limitations, when you use Smartphones, the system will load only the TOP 50 stocks by M Index and BRH Index. Though not entirely ideal, its the next best thing when you are on the go.
Please use CHROME or SAFARI browser.
Smartphone Layout (Chrome)
Smartphone Layout (Mozilla Firefox)
Final note, all subscribers may ONLY sign into one device/gadget at one time, so please remember to log out of one device before signing onto another.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Murasaki Coming To Ipoh, JB, Seremban and Melaka ...
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| Paid and trial subscribers are entitled to register for our complimentary Masterclass in order to better use and be familiarized with our system. Kindly contact us to reserve your seat. Masterclass will also be held from time to time, please revisit our website regularly for any updates. You may also register for a free 7 day trial by going to www.murasaki.co | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Greece Issue Headed For A Solution In 6 Days
Greece's international lenders failed for the second week running to agree how to get the country's debt down to a sustainable level and will have a third go at resolving their most intractable problem in six days' time. After nearly 12 hours of talks through the night during which myriad options were discussed, eurozone finance ministers, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank failed to reach a consensus, without which emergency aid cannot be disbursed to Athens.
However the markets should be taking the following comments more closely:
"We are close to an agreement but technical verifications have to be undertaken, financial calculations have to be made and it's really for technical reasons that at this hour of the day it was not possible to do it in a proper way and so we are interrupting the meeting and reconvening next Monday," Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters.
"There are no major political disagreements," he said.
There appears to be no other way except for the lenders to somehow come up with a solution for the Greece debacle.
Nonetheless, sharemarkets around the world reacted negatively, while the euro extended its fall against the US dollar in response. A document prepared for the meeting declared that Greece's debt cannot be cut to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, the level deemed sustainable by the IMF, unless euro zone member states write off a portion of their loans to Greece. The 15-page document, circulated among ministers, set out in black-and-white how far off-track Greece is in reducing its debt to the IMF-imposed target, from a level of around 170 per cent of GDP now.
The document set out various ways Greece's debt could be reduced between now and 2020, but concluded they would not be enough without eurozone creditors taking a hit on their own holdings - something Germany and others have said would be illegal.
The document did say Greek debt could fall to 120 per cent of GDP two years later - in 2022 - without having to impose any losses on euro zone member states or forcing through a buy-back of Greek debt from private-sector bondholders. But International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde rejected such an extension at similar talks last week. Without any corrective measures the document said Greek debt would be 144 per cent in 2020 and 133 per cent in 2022, figures first reported exclusively by Reuters last week.
The view of the IMF, which has played a role in both Greek bailouts so far, is critical since it provides international legitimacy and credibility for the efforts the euro zone is making. If the IMF were to withdraw its support for the bailout programmes, it could have a deeply damaging market impact.
The document appeared designed in part to convince the IMF that Greek debt could be made sustainable just two years behind schedule if only it would soften its stance.
It remains possible that Lagarde could provide further wiggle room, but she is believed to favour the idea of eurozone member states taking a writedown on some of the loans extended to Greece in order to stick to the 120 per cent in 2020 goal.
Among the main measures under consideration to bring Greece's debt burden down as rapidly as possible is a debt buy-back under which Greece would offer to purchase bonds from private investors at a discount to their nominal value.
Several options are under consideration, officials have said and the document makes clear, including using about 10 billion euros to buy back bonds at between 30 and 35 cents in the euro.
There are also proposals to reduce the interest rate on loans already extended by euro zone countries to Greece, to impose a moratorium on interest payments and lengthen the maturities on loans, all of which would cut the debt burden.
Pressure for the eurozone to come up with a solution is high not just because Greece is running out of money and financial markets want a dependable solution, but because Athens has initiated virtually all the steps demanded of it to cut spending, raise taxes and overhaul its economy.
"Greece has delivered. Now it's up to us to deliver," Juncker said.
Because of the latest delay, the ministers were unable to give a go-ahead for the next tranche of up to 44 billion euros of emergency funds to be paid to Athens. The payment would provide short-term relief to Athens, but it is long-term debt that is the core issue.
Hence it looks its going to hurt the EU more if they fail to come up with something for Greece, having seen Greece doing its part already. All in, despite the negativity surrounding the developments, its actually a positive because it all points to a MUST solution in 6 days.
However the markets should be taking the following comments more closely:
"We are close to an agreement but technical verifications have to be undertaken, financial calculations have to be made and it's really for technical reasons that at this hour of the day it was not possible to do it in a proper way and so we are interrupting the meeting and reconvening next Monday," Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters.
"There are no major political disagreements," he said.
There appears to be no other way except for the lenders to somehow come up with a solution for the Greece debacle.
Nonetheless, sharemarkets around the world reacted negatively, while the euro extended its fall against the US dollar in response. A document prepared for the meeting declared that Greece's debt cannot be cut to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, the level deemed sustainable by the IMF, unless euro zone member states write off a portion of their loans to Greece. The 15-page document, circulated among ministers, set out in black-and-white how far off-track Greece is in reducing its debt to the IMF-imposed target, from a level of around 170 per cent of GDP now.
The document set out various ways Greece's debt could be reduced between now and 2020, but concluded they would not be enough without eurozone creditors taking a hit on their own holdings - something Germany and others have said would be illegal.
The document did say Greek debt could fall to 120 per cent of GDP two years later - in 2022 - without having to impose any losses on euro zone member states or forcing through a buy-back of Greek debt from private-sector bondholders. But International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde rejected such an extension at similar talks last week. Without any corrective measures the document said Greek debt would be 144 per cent in 2020 and 133 per cent in 2022, figures first reported exclusively by Reuters last week.
The view of the IMF, which has played a role in both Greek bailouts so far, is critical since it provides international legitimacy and credibility for the efforts the euro zone is making. If the IMF were to withdraw its support for the bailout programmes, it could have a deeply damaging market impact.
The document appeared designed in part to convince the IMF that Greek debt could be made sustainable just two years behind schedule if only it would soften its stance.
It remains possible that Lagarde could provide further wiggle room, but she is believed to favour the idea of eurozone member states taking a writedown on some of the loans extended to Greece in order to stick to the 120 per cent in 2020 goal.
Among the main measures under consideration to bring Greece's debt burden down as rapidly as possible is a debt buy-back under which Greece would offer to purchase bonds from private investors at a discount to their nominal value.
Several options are under consideration, officials have said and the document makes clear, including using about 10 billion euros to buy back bonds at between 30 and 35 cents in the euro.
There are also proposals to reduce the interest rate on loans already extended by euro zone countries to Greece, to impose a moratorium on interest payments and lengthen the maturities on loans, all of which would cut the debt burden.
Pressure for the eurozone to come up with a solution is high not just because Greece is running out of money and financial markets want a dependable solution, but because Athens has initiated virtually all the steps demanded of it to cut spending, raise taxes and overhaul its economy.
"Greece has delivered. Now it's up to us to deliver," Juncker said.
Because of the latest delay, the ministers were unable to give a go-ahead for the next tranche of up to 44 billion euros of emergency funds to be paid to Athens. The payment would provide short-term relief to Athens, but it is long-term debt that is the core issue.
Hence it looks its going to hurt the EU more if they fail to come up with something for Greece, having seen Greece doing its part already. All in, despite the negativity surrounding the developments, its actually a positive because it all points to a MUST solution in 6 days.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Penang Day Trip
Had to wake up at the god forsaken hour of 6am this morning to get ready to catch the 8am flight on Firefly to Penang. Doing 3 Masterclasses today, all at Paragon Gurney, which is a very nice place really.
So what to do, early mah, go for breakie at Lam Heng coffeeshop @ Macalister Road. Gawd, the coffee shop is even smaller than I last remembered. But we were greeted nicely by the "sisters" which was against the "grumpy aunties branding" that they had.
Wanted hor fun with mee, and naturally they only sell kuayteow. Purists will tell me its called charkwayteow not charkwayanythingwant. Taste wise still brilliant. Lighter than normal because they rely less on dark soy and more on light soya plus good wokhei. RM5 a plate and a pretty small plate, but I think its worth it cause its duck egg and the prawns are pretty chubby and fresh. 9/10.
Arrived early at Paragon Gurney, shocked to find that my favourite yoghurt place actually can be a full store here in Penang. In KL all we get are kiosks. Damn!
So what to do, early mah, go for breakie at Lam Heng coffeeshop @ Macalister Road. Gawd, the coffee shop is even smaller than I last remembered. But we were greeted nicely by the "sisters" which was against the "grumpy aunties branding" that they had.
Wanted hor fun with mee, and naturally they only sell kuayteow. Purists will tell me its called charkwayteow not charkwayanythingwant. Taste wise still brilliant. Lighter than normal because they rely less on dark soy and more on light soya plus good wokhei. RM5 a plate and a pretty small plate, but I think its worth it cause its duck egg and the prawns are pretty chubby and fresh. 9/10.
Can't eat everything in the shop, so settled for prawn mee. Its a small bowl but also costs RM5 which is expensive even by KL standards. Taste wise 8/10, pretty good but value wise is 3/10 as I think Champs version of the prawn mee matches on taste and even when its at RM20, its still great value at Champs. They give big big whole prawns and real full ribs, plus their chilli is to die for. Champs wins hands down.
There is the lobak place at the front of the coffee shop, couldn't eat anything more but the freshly fried stuff smelled damn good. Obviously fresh oil.
Arrived early at Paragon Gurney, shocked to find that my favourite yoghurt place actually can be a full store here in Penang. In KL all we get are kiosks. Damn!
Songs That I Keep Going Back To
There are certain songs that you keep going back to, maybe they are not so popular now, heck, some were not even that popular then ... but these songs meant a lot to me. I never tire of hearing them, trouble is finding them, locating or even trying to download them properly in the first place.
There are songs that define a generation, I guess these songs defines me. These may be just pop songs with simple melodies and lyrics but they stayed with me.
The first one was an obscure hit back in the late 80s by one funnily named group called 1927. Every time I hear it, goosebumps, the soaring chorus and even cheesy lyrics but somehow it works ...
You Belong To Me was a major hit in the early 60s or late 50s I believe, the melody was very good but the way they sung it was too "big band Buble style". I always knew it needed to be toned down to a folk song for the lyrics and melody to shine through more. Kate Busby's rendition was spot on. Always mesmerising and reflective.
There was a movie that captured my imagination when I was pretty young. Its called Voices, a guy falling for a deaf girl, sounds formulaic but its not. The haunting theme song always brings me back to simpler times when good means good and bad means bad. The song is called I Will Always Wait For You by Burton Cummings.
My all time favourite song by The Beatles is a little known song by them, I Will. Ever since I heard it I was swooned by the purity of the melody, so simple, uncomplicated and the right lyrics. Funny thing was I even thought to myself that this would be the song to be played if ever I was to get married. The Beatles version was sublime, but Alison Kraus' version is even better with a long instrumental intro before letting the lyrics revel in the wondrous melody. Guess people will start using this song for their upcoming weddings after hearing about this from me ... sigh.
This is a quirky pick I know, many would not even consider John Travolta to be a singer but he was, and way before Saturday Night Fever and Grease, he did this wonderful movie based on a true story The Boy In The Plastic Bubble. The kid's body does not have an immune system and he has to live in a germ free platic bubble ... till he fell in love and risked it all breaking out of his bubble. Song written by Paul Williams, What Would They Say.
There are songs that define a generation, I guess these songs defines me. These may be just pop songs with simple melodies and lyrics but they stayed with me.
The first one was an obscure hit back in the late 80s by one funnily named group called 1927. Every time I hear it, goosebumps, the soaring chorus and even cheesy lyrics but somehow it works ...
You Belong To Me was a major hit in the early 60s or late 50s I believe, the melody was very good but the way they sung it was too "big band Buble style". I always knew it needed to be toned down to a folk song for the lyrics and melody to shine through more. Kate Busby's rendition was spot on. Always mesmerising and reflective.
There was a movie that captured my imagination when I was pretty young. Its called Voices, a guy falling for a deaf girl, sounds formulaic but its not. The haunting theme song always brings me back to simpler times when good means good and bad means bad. The song is called I Will Always Wait For You by Burton Cummings.
My all time favourite song by The Beatles is a little known song by them, I Will. Ever since I heard it I was swooned by the purity of the melody, so simple, uncomplicated and the right lyrics. Funny thing was I even thought to myself that this would be the song to be played if ever I was to get married. The Beatles version was sublime, but Alison Kraus' version is even better with a long instrumental intro before letting the lyrics revel in the wondrous melody. Guess people will start using this song for their upcoming weddings after hearing about this from me ... sigh.
This is a quirky pick I know, many would not even consider John Travolta to be a singer but he was, and way before Saturday Night Fever and Grease, he did this wonderful movie based on a true story The Boy In The Plastic Bubble. The kid's body does not have an immune system and he has to live in a germ free platic bubble ... till he fell in love and risked it all breaking out of his bubble. Song written by Paul Williams, What Would They Say.
Cynicism vs Wonderment vs Cool vs Detached
I always tell people they need to go and travel every now and then. When you pluck yourself away from your 'box', you see a lot of things differently. Life is not how long you live but how well you live. Soon we will all be dead, if we are lucky, some will suffer prolonged effects of ageing or sickness, and you wonder why.
I used to be a lot more cynical about things, it usually takes a lot more from me to get excited or enthused over things and even people. You think you have seen it all. Everything is just shades of grey (no pun intended).
When you live well, you are opening up yourself to "wonderment" and being zestful. Some may think its the antithesis of being cool. People who meet me for the first few times will think I am cool, cool to the extent of not being warm and hard to please. Thats just the exterior, trouble is I am usually thinking not trying to look cool or reserved.
Being detached robs us of the the joys in living well. Friends show you photos of their kids, you shrug your shoulders, everybody's got their own kids, everybody's kids are cute and wonderful (to them). Insanely, if you open up more and be more empathetic, you will embrace life and the joy in discovering and sharing.
Life is not meant to be easy. Its the same for everyone else. The grass is always greener. Do not worry if you are a half empty glass person or a half full glass person, just drink the bloody water and enjoy quenching your thirst.
Being cynical is OK when it comes to business matters, it pays to ask pertinent questions, its a skill we learn to protect ourselves. Use it more sparingly when it comes to people. If they turn out to be "bad apples", discard them, but embrace first.
If you think there are no more great things in life to get you excited over, if you think you have seen it all, you might as well go live in a cave, you are just existing. Talk to kids and be enthralled. Take in sights and be aware of their magnificence. Look into the eyes of your loved ones and be glad they stuck around with you. Have great conversations, give something of yourself. Immerse not detach. Live well, live strong.
I used to be a lot more cynical about things, it usually takes a lot more from me to get excited or enthused over things and even people. You think you have seen it all. Everything is just shades of grey (no pun intended).
When you live well, you are opening up yourself to "wonderment" and being zestful. Some may think its the antithesis of being cool. People who meet me for the first few times will think I am cool, cool to the extent of not being warm and hard to please. Thats just the exterior, trouble is I am usually thinking not trying to look cool or reserved.
Being detached robs us of the the joys in living well. Friends show you photos of their kids, you shrug your shoulders, everybody's got their own kids, everybody's kids are cute and wonderful (to them). Insanely, if you open up more and be more empathetic, you will embrace life and the joy in discovering and sharing.
Life is not meant to be easy. Its the same for everyone else. The grass is always greener. Do not worry if you are a half empty glass person or a half full glass person, just drink the bloody water and enjoy quenching your thirst.
Being cynical is OK when it comes to business matters, it pays to ask pertinent questions, its a skill we learn to protect ourselves. Use it more sparingly when it comes to people. If they turn out to be "bad apples", discard them, but embrace first.
If you think there are no more great things in life to get you excited over, if you think you have seen it all, you might as well go live in a cave, you are just existing. Talk to kids and be enthralled. Take in sights and be aware of their magnificence. Look into the eyes of your loved ones and be glad they stuck around with you. Have great conversations, give something of yourself. Immerse not detach. Live well, live strong.
Monday, 19 November 2012
Murasaki Masterclass In Penang and Ipoh
Back to the grindstone recharged. Due to good demand, we are now making our way to other cities. If you are in Penang and Ipoh, we will be there over the next few days. There is even a Mandarin Masterclass session in Penang.
www.murasaki.co
www.murasaki.co
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Taxis In Malaysia, Emblematic Of our Woes
The moment I got back, was greeted by a vicious queue for taxis, bought the stupid ticket for RM80 and had to throw away because the queue was nearly an hour's wait ... they said it was due to renovation being done to some parts of the road/building. B.S. The whole system is controlled. If you have a system, make sure it works, you do not want the first impression to be bad for tourists arriving in KL.
Had to dash for the KLIA Express instead, but its the first time it was full, can you believe it. Some had to stand. Something is not right. Even if you have a controlled airport taxi system, you should be flexible in that when there are not sufficient airport taxis, there should be a marshal or two to guide other normal taxis to take passengers away from the airport. I am sure you can take a higher percentage of the fare from these taxis, and they'd still be willing to ferry passengers instead of going off empty.
It is so stupid.
How much money we spend on advertising for tourism a year? Malaysia Truly Asia, B.S. ... till a visitor tries to get a cab and get charged RM50 for a 5km trip.
Why can't we rectify this mess? We can spend billions building Putrajaya and Cyberjaya but we cannot solve the taxis system. We can spend billions on Nusajaya and we cannot solve the taxis problem. The taxis issue is emblematic of what is wrong with corporate Malaysia, or anything to do with money.
The government cannot do anything because there are warlords controlling various taxi groupings. Are they so important and threatening that we cannot better the system for all? Why do we farm out taxis into "influential groups" and then shrug our shoulders when we know it needed to be fixed? We are always at the mercy of these VIPs who somehow "knows the right people" that makes it OK to leave the country in a mess.
Where is the political will? I guess there is none as we dice and slice portions of the industry to you know who and who you know. Then we cannot do anything when we want to better the system. You can replicate the taxi issue with almost every other sub sector of any industry in the country. There are always vested interests everywhere.
We have to grow up, if you do not do it, the people will do it for you one way or another. My prediction, the ruling party will be lucky to win more than one state in the peninsula in the upcoming election. Mark my words.
Had to dash for the KLIA Express instead, but its the first time it was full, can you believe it. Some had to stand. Something is not right. Even if you have a controlled airport taxi system, you should be flexible in that when there are not sufficient airport taxis, there should be a marshal or two to guide other normal taxis to take passengers away from the airport. I am sure you can take a higher percentage of the fare from these taxis, and they'd still be willing to ferry passengers instead of going off empty.
It is so stupid.
How much money we spend on advertising for tourism a year? Malaysia Truly Asia, B.S. ... till a visitor tries to get a cab and get charged RM50 for a 5km trip.
Why can't we rectify this mess? We can spend billions building Putrajaya and Cyberjaya but we cannot solve the taxis system. We can spend billions on Nusajaya and we cannot solve the taxis problem. The taxis issue is emblematic of what is wrong with corporate Malaysia, or anything to do with money.
The government cannot do anything because there are warlords controlling various taxi groupings. Are they so important and threatening that we cannot better the system for all? Why do we farm out taxis into "influential groups" and then shrug our shoulders when we know it needed to be fixed? We are always at the mercy of these VIPs who somehow "knows the right people" that makes it OK to leave the country in a mess.
Where is the political will? I guess there is none as we dice and slice portions of the industry to you know who and who you know. Then we cannot do anything when we want to better the system. You can replicate the taxi issue with almost every other sub sector of any industry in the country. There are always vested interests everywhere.
We have to grow up, if you do not do it, the people will do it for you one way or another. My prediction, the ruling party will be lucky to win more than one state in the peninsula in the upcoming election. Mark my words.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Sydney Day 4
Going further down, you get a wonderful bakery, a snazzy Northern Indian restaurant etc... its all fun stuff walking and and down the street on the beach.
Staying near the beach is very cool, you get to enjoy the life as beach bums. Wake up late or early, stumble down to the beach area for breakfast and read the papers, watch the pretty people go past. Whether its Coogee, Bronte, Bondi or Manly beaches, its the same drift. The shops are all a lot of fun and presents great variety.
Its only about 100 meters but its exciting kind of shops. Here you have a bottler (liquor retail store), a surf shop and SushiGOI, a popular sushi place much like Sakae Sushi.
Next to it you have a cafe, and another cafe and then the very fresh Coogee Fish shop, great fish and chips. I kinda counted that there were no less than 16 cafes in that 100 meters.
My morning comfort food in Sydney, bacon and crispy bacon roll.
Well, its not ever going to be a touristy type of travel blog since I have been here for a long time and lived and studied here for over 10 years. Hence you are not getting the Opera House, Taronga Zoo stuff. But the Harbour Bridge is very cool, this is a video of me driving over it. Visitors without any fear of heights should do the Harbour Bridge climb.
I do a lot of country side driving when I am in Sydney. You can fit the entire Europe map into Australia, its a huge place. The country side is a lot more soothing. Drove to Gosford, another hour's drive from Sydney. Relaxing and wonderful weather to boot. Yes, they happened to be having races there yesterday, up close and personal with the horsies as well.
The very relaxing drive down to Gosford ...
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