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you think you're chocolate

when you're chewing gum

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Moved.

Happy new year everyone!

and so.. im moving over to LJ.

http://users.livejournal.com/andalusia_/

update your links! and remember the underscore at the end!

aqilah kasim at 4:48 PM

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Saturday, December 24, 2005

La La Days

ive not updated for ages. its been a month since the big A's ended, and haha, ive not blogged for a month. First up, i got tagged by Nabilla quite some time ago. So here it is :

Rules of the game:
1. Post 5 weird/random stuff abt yourself
2. At the end, list the names of 5 ppl who you want next to this and leave a comment "YOU ARE TAGGED" in their blogs and tell them to read your blog for rules!


1) i love msn messenger emoticons. ive been collecting cute/angry/suicidal/sadistic emoticons from everyone esp JJ and Nazri. I've got quite a collection i think. It makes chatting on MSN all the more fun!

2) i fell in love with Hindi movies all over again about two months before the A levels exam. i was in a pretty depressed state one day and played Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. it was just a pretty random thing, i hadnt seen it for about two years. but from there, the movies just made me so happy, hahaha.. and ive been watching so many of them since. listening to Hindi and Tamil songs now actually. Thank you Maggie for the songs.

3) i had my first day of work a few days ago. It was pretty horrible, i quit after the first day! I think if i wasnt with Sheena, it would really have been a lot worse. i think i may just stick to the relief teaching option for now.

4) i have this thing with certain songs that i really really like. I'll listen to them on repeat for about two-three days, then i'll get bored and wont listen to them for a few months. One of my favourite songs is Travis' Flowers in the Window. and well, ive not listened to it since er, March i think. =/

5) I'm moving to Livejournal soon! hahaha, ive been thinking about it for some time, and once i get a really nice layout i think i'll move.

6) i cant wait to go to the zoo on 3rd January with Fanana! i've not been there in ages! hahahahahaa! All you Girls' Room Girls who are just bumming around at home better come along too!

ok, and i'm tagging Syafiqah, JiaJie, Maggie, Zaiton, Farhana and Adleen! update your blogs!

aqilah kasim at 12:59 PM

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Thursday, November 24, 2005

laughing my intelligence away

hahahahhaha

its over!! ive not stopped grinning since eleven this morning! the cheekbones hurt! im sure that part of it is bcos the utopian lit paper was pretty kind in a way - i was able to asnwer both questions and write the longest essays (hope quality and quantity!) ive ever written for the paper.

was pretty delirious this afternoon hahaha

now i can read, go online shopping and just stare at the tv for hours without feeling guilty.

heck, Oasis' The Importance of Being Idle is the official anthem now k?

aqilah kasim at 8:17 PM

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Saturday, November 19, 2005

where is everybody? my msn list is practically empty! hmph. anyway,


i lovedlovedloved the movie! 156 minutes of total escapism.
shouldnt be pg though. i found the graveyard scene pretty scary, i never imagined the scene to be that dark when i read the book. ralph fiennes is spectacular as lord voldemort, and there's actually some sort of chemistry between harry and him, the sworn enemies sort of chemistry. there's always been that connection between the two that's so much stronger in the books but not really in the movie, but with this one, its here. finally, you actually get the harrypotterverse spirit in this movie that's been sorely lacking. the kind that if you're not a harry potter book fan, you wont understand the magic that the book casts onto you. hahaha, im becoming pretty book-ist, but its the first time i actully felt that finally, the director gets it!

oh and yeah, the twins are so funny! and there was this hilarious scene where snape kept uh, redirecting harry's and ron's attention back to studying. snape didnt say much in teh movie though he was in a lot of scenes. actually there wasnt a lot of dialogue for all the characters except maybe harry. you could feel the intensity of the movie from the start, there was so much to tell but so little space and time it seems. i cant stop gushing abt the entire movie!

but oh yeah, im not really such a fan of michael gambon as dumbledore. he reacts too much, if that makes sense. dumbledore's the silent strength sort of person. i would never expect him to push harry against the wall after the triwizard tournament selection. and the way that he goes "Silence!" in the Great Hall..nah, Dumbledore doesnt call for attention like that. Richard Harris was way better at portraying Dumbledore.

im bored. would have put up more pics from GOF if LJ wasnt down. now i really have nothing to do. (no! no 1984!not after harry potter!)

aqilah kasim at 4:49 PM

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Friday, November 18, 2005

art fazil

i discovered my art fazil cd dusty on the cd rack on wednesday and realised how much i missed listening to his songs. anyway, i googled him a few minutes ago, and found out that he wrote an article for the new paper in august (and it was published 3 days before my birthday)! so here it is :

Is Jack the Ripper really a Mat?
By Art Fazil
August 17, 2005

I HAVE a semi-romantic fascination for the Victorian Age, despite its colonialist overtones.

It was a time when the glories of industrialisation rode hand in hand with the golden age of art, literature and poetry.

There was the British Raj, Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, the steam engine, Around the World in 80 Days, Phantom of the Opera and the Elephant Man.

And Jack the Ripper.

In autumn 1888, a series of five ritualistic murders in the Whitechapel area of London awakened Victorian society from its opium-clouded dream.

The exploits of the murderer, nicknamed Jack the Ripper, have fascinated the world for more than a century. Jack the Ripper is said to have never been caught and has been the subject of much speculation.

Among the suspects was Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward (known as Eddy to his friends). But at the time of the Ripper murders, there were no theories presented to link Eddy to the crimes.

In 1970, Dr Thomas Stowell published an article in The Criminologist called A Solution using the private papers of Eddy's physician Sir William Gull as his primary source material.

According to Stowell, Eddy was suffering from syphilis, contracted in the West Indies, and that this infection drove Eddy insane and compelled him to commit the murders.

Hollywood offered its version through the film From Hell starring Johnny Depp. The film unravelled a chilling alleged conspiracy involving the highest powers in England - the royal family and the Freemasons.

Another theory is that of the 'foreigner suspect'. There was a common and arrogant belief at that time that 'no Englishman was capable of doing such a thing, hence the suspect must be an immigrant'.

As a result, the Jewish community living in Whitechapel at that time came under suspicion.

When I first arrived in London some years ago, my friend Michael mentioned in passing something which I took an interest in.

He said that one of the suspects in the Jack the Ripper case was a Malay man.

Recently, while researching on the Malay diaspora to gather materials for the London Malay Festival, I came across the case again.

The London Times dated October 1889 reported that a Malay man who worked as a cook aboard ships had threatened to kill Whitechapel prostitutes, but he then disappeared. The Malay suspect was said to have gone by the name of Maurice.

Now most of us would know that Maurice is neither a Malay nor Muslim name. I wondered perhaps his name could have been Mat Rais or Mat Deris. Mat is the abbreviation of Ahmad or Mohammad - a commonly-used Muslim name.

The Anglo corruption could have possibly twisted Mat Rais or Mat Deris into Maurice. Just like how the Arabic Straits of Jabal Atar became the Straits of Gibraltar.

But imagine, if one day, through some 'newly discovered evidence', Jack the Ripper turned out to be a Malay man. History would have to take a revolutionary turn to the Orient.

Books would have to be re-written, scripts changed and films remade. And, who knows, perhaps there would be fresh openings in the film industry.

And talents like my friend, the gifted poet and actor Rafaat Hamzah, or even myself, may jolly well get a role in a new Hollywood film about Jack the Ripper.

But I would have to insist that it be renamed 'Mat the Ripper'.



=D heh. cuteness.

aqilah kasim at 7:48 PM

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