Understanding Islam

I bought this book when the author came to town but only managed to complete it last night, due to my own procrastination. It is very factual and insightful, even to a Muslim like me, whose knowledge of Islam is rather incompetent in many ways.

To a certain someone who was disillusioned about terrorism and feel that Islam is at fault in many ways, I can only say, read this book, especially the three chapters on Jihad. It was clear and succint, and even help to clarify the many questions I have in my own mind.

And contrary to media attention, Jihad is NOT defined as Holy War. And of course, this book is not just about jihad, but present the basic tenets of Islam in very easy to understand ways.

Well I can only say, read this book - Understanding Islam: A Guide for the Judaeo-Christian Reader by Jerald F. Dirks, cos only if you seek knowledge, then you will understand and make informed decisions.

For more information about the author and his books, click his website. For a detail account of his journey to Islam, click here.

The unofficial judge resides again

I did my own review of Anugerah 2007 and thought of doing it again after Anugerah 2009 last night.

Singapore-bred Sarah Aqilah won. Personally, it was a no-brainer decision, I believe even for the judges.



Based on their performance last night, you could literally put the four finalists, Chirul, Sarah Aqilah, Wawan and Kunjung on a spectrum of good to not-so-good, and the spectrum would be lined firstly with Sarah - the best to Kunjung, Wawan and Chirul - the least, without a shade of doubt.

When I first heard Chirul sang, I think he had a very unique and interesting voice. Even judge Zulkifli from 2 by 2 agrees with the unique tone of his voice. Having said that, he does lack in commercial value, and somehow does not seem to have confidence in his own ability to sing. Void of emotions and passion in his rendition, his singing seems lacklustre and 'lazy' at times, somewhat lost in the power-charged vocals and performance of the other finalists.

Wawan - I think he found his niche - wide open mouth and all-over-the-place- movement of his legs a bit ala Ferhad, but clumsy. Not sure whether he wants to be a rocker or a broadway performer, but performing ala broadway was definitely out for him. But he is an entertaining performer, and if he so wishes to 'perform' he should brush up his skills in some tuned, better choreographed and a bit more stylish dance steps or movements. Otherwise, he looks fuddy-duddy. His vocal prowess is in rock songs whether hard or rock ballads and I think that's where he could go far and command stage presence, which I kind of think he relishes the use of the stage a lot.

Kunjung - love her vocal capability and her stage presence. Personally, she is already a singer to boot, but she would not win Anugerah 2009 simply because she is not born and bred Singaporean. But nationalistic sentiments aside, Kunjung's package is not of the girly lass or sexy sweet young thing that is so part of this industry but then again, she is a great singer and will be much received by Singaporeans if she had earned her prize back in her own hometown.

Sarah Aqilah, well, slim, pretty, marketable and has the voice. What more can you ask for in this type of industry? Our music industry in Singapore is so lacking in such slim pretty lass with the big voice and suddenly here comes Sarah Aqilah. Most of the lasses here that have big voices also comes in big packages, I mean sizes, and though it is NOT wrong to believe that talent is what it should be, the reality is, it is NOT the case. Sarah Aqilah's strength seems to be in slow ballads with the high pitched chorus or ending ala Ziana Zain, but I wish to see her in other renditions and genres as well. She also needs a better makeover of her hair as well as rebranding herself to continually rise in this industry. But please, please do not brown or blonde the hair too much like some other singers have done. It just seem so unsexy and unappealing. Keep it black and sassy. I believe she will be one Singaporean Malay singer that could go a little farther than where the rest of our female singers were not able to venture to if she continues to rebrand, reimage, and reposition herself in this industry.

And so the unofficial judge rests...

Part 2 of good riddance!

I used to have loads of containers of these - containing my era in television production, even manual like the "basic television production course" when I first started my career with tv production to scripts of various dramas and variety shows, to newspaper clippings of whatever news that made it to the papers regarding the shows or the celebrities. I have since downsized my stuffs to only one container load, but I am going to get rid of this container load as well. It's time to say goodbye to my past era, and move on... as the saying goes again, "the value of me is in me, not in my stuffs"....

Goodbye to old stuffs...!

This is the first part of my 'getting rid of stuffs' - my loads of vhs tapes, in which some have turned mouldy and I am not going to be sentimental about it. These are tapes of the shows that I have produced - namely sandiwaras (yes even from sandiwara eras), Malay dramas, Fashion Unlimited, The Home Show, Anugerah, Pesta Perdana, Teater Komedi, Hari Raya Shows and the list goes on. I am going to embrace the saying that "the value of me is in me, not in my stuffs." Goodbye to old stuffs...!

Mountain Bread

I discovered this mountain bread while at Cold Storage. It's a thin layer of dough that is made from organic wheat, so it feels healthy. I bought the bread and created my own filling. So here is my shawarma-inspired mountain bread. The filling I had was capsicum, chopped tomatoes and cucumber, sliced lamb and cheese wrapped in mountain bread and I heated it in my toaster oven. Yummy! Even my little boy Afzal loves it.

Toasted Omelette

I got this simple idea from the internet, and I decided to try it out this morning. I had eggs beaten with salt and pepper. I added chopped tomatoes, sausage and roasted potato (from two days ago), and I toasted them all in this sandwich toaster.



And the verdict is great. Hubby likes it, and one omelette toast was quite filling already. I had it with chilli sauce. Not bad for something quick, fast and deliciously healthy, I hope. I'm sure I can experiment this further with other fillings.



So this was my breakfast morning...!

My healthy dinner?

This is what I had last night. My concoction of pasta with olive oil, garlic, crushed peppers, chopped boneless chicken and squid rings. I added the roasted vegetables from dinner the day before. I know pasta is high on carbo, but this was like my only carbo (I think) that day. In the morning, I had a wholemeal sandwich with roasted vegetables + 1 chopped sausage + low fat cheese toasted, and for lunch, I had yong taufoo with tom yum soup.

Hopefully it's healthy enough since I have to be on a low sugar, low carb diet due to my pregnancy.

Decluttering

At the little corner of my office table is my little 'pantry' corner, so- called 'hidden' by a Japanese-motif divider. Place on a round red IKEA mat are my water bottle, a mug, a small tissue box, a scented candle, a lavender body cream, a dice, a christmas gift and an empty Starbucks cappucino bottle. And I know that I don't have a need for at least five of the items to be there.

I have a little project in mind, well, not just in mind, but I have to get to doing it. I need to declutter our bedroom that has been converted into a storage room at home. You see, we don't have a storeroom so everything else that are not needed are being chucked in that room. We have halved the excess baggagge after every move from one rented house to the next but the clutter is still there. We need to make space for a queen size bed and also for the arrival of our baby number #2, so that's why the decluttering is all important.

For me, I have sentimental attachment to some of my earlier works in television that I have loads of scripts and video tapes. And I am not even sure those video tapes work anymore, but I still keep them. Another thing of value are container loads of pictures that have not found its place on photo albums. I have books - loads, on early childhood that I know will always be useful and I also have games and flashcards that I have made for my firstborn that can be used again on my second born.

My hubby, on the other hand, is a 'karung guni'. However, once he collects all the newspapers, papers, cans and whatever metal, he will recycle them. The thing is he needs 'a lot' of those things before he recycles them. So it piles up.

I have to start this weekend again to divide the items into 1) OUT (RECYCLE, DONATE, SELL, THROW) and 2) IN (will be used) 3) IN (too sentimental to throw but not very useful of now and therefore, what should I do about it?)

This weekend is gonna be a big headache! As the saying at the corner of my table beside my phone goes "Just take one step outside your self. The whole path lasts no longer than this step." Ni'matullah Wali.

I certainly hope so!

My Little Office Space

Yesterday, I had a spring cleaning of my own little cubicle in my office, perhaps after an overdose of watching Clean House during the weekend on The Style Network. Finally, I filed all those things that needed filing and also chucked and shredded unwanted documents. Even my drawers were spruced up a little.



Here's my little office, and my little DIY curtain that I so needed if I just do not want to be disturbed. But my office is always open and welccome to almost everyone. I only closed it when I wanted to solat or when I wanted to just have a quiet lunch.



Behind this metal cabinet is a little sanctuary for me to have my quiet moment with the Al-Mighty. But of course, that little mess of piled-up files are those of completed projects that needed to be archived. So needed to be archived!!!



Here's where I place my solat mat, tucked away behind a metal cabinet that provided a little private space for some quiet time. I'm glad that there is this little sanctuary. :)



As the saying goes, 'The best direction to take in life is towards Allah...'