RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?   The above is one of the many memorable quotes from The Graduate (1967), where plastic was probably the field which promised a promising future, allowing fresh graduates to build castles on orange clouds with dollar bills.  Fast forward to 2010, plastics have been relegated to the status of the evil invention that could possibly spell the end of humans on planet earth for the same reason their existence was celebrated not too long ago - their ability to stay in their form without rotting. For this very reason, the state government of the state I live in started introducing the 'No Plastic Bag Day' campaign since January this year. Every Saturday, shoppers were deprived of their usual plastic bags (degradable or otherwise) and were encouraged to use other means, either in the...

My interest in politics waxes and wanes like the moon in the sky at night, with the most poignant moment being the general elections in March 2008, where I spent a good deal of the night (until 5am!!) refreshing the web page where the results were displayed. It was interesting to note that after so long, the ruling coalition (will be known in this post as NF) got it's ass kicked by the opposition (known in this post as PF) by losing five states. Naturally, the interest waned later on as the whole situation seemed like a very bad soap opera with equally bad actors. The high hopes of making a difference seemed to move further away from reach as *components stated having issues amongst themselves, one of the states was just stolen away in a shocking manner and many other things. A year and a half later, we see the need for a by-election in this place called Hulu Selangor, and while it garnered interest in many ways from a whole bunch of Malaysians, the only thing I did was read a po...

"They really need the money" so said fellow blogger and the informant of all things financial, Zewt . And although it makes sense to a certain extent (you need money to run a country, naturally) the whole thing seems a bit unfair... as though you're being punished. At least that's the way I feel... It's been awhile since the budget was announced (I wasn't exactly in the country then, and after that I got a tad bit too busy to review it) and there was one thing among a few that people were generally unhappy about. However, despite the numerous complaint letters sent to the papers (mainstream media, alas - sniggers), they had not backed down from the decision to charge every credit card holder a service tax of RM 50 for each principle credit card they have (not necessarily used) The thing about credit cards is that they're convenient... especially for people who don't fancy carrying around cash. If you look at it, RM 50 may not seem like a huge amoun...