Trailer: Vietnamese posession horror ‘Hollow’ (VIDEO) |
- Trailer: Vietnamese posession horror ‘Hollow’ (VIDEO)
- F1 Senna remembered
- Obama Days in KL, a hallucination of sorts
- Trump buys historical Turnberry
- Dollar stunned by dismal GDP data but Fed unfazed
| Trailer: Vietnamese posession horror ‘Hollow’ (VIDEO) Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:54 PM PDT HANOI, May 1 — Vietnam's versatile director Ham Tran has turned his hand to the horror genre with "Hollow" ("Đoạt Hồn"), in which a girl returns from the countryside to live with her family. But the 8-year-old starts exhibiting strange behavior — unless you include internal bleeding and levitation among the usual expressions of childhood frustration. What her family doesn't know is that their daughter wasn't just missing, she was dead. Found after she drowned in a river and somehow washed ashore further upstream, her body has been repurposed as accomodation for an evil, vengeful spirit. Cue disturbing occurrences, rising family tensions, a meddling witch, and a full-on police raid as the Wang family's visitor begins manifesting an unwelcome agenda.
Previous projects include post-war immigrant story "Journey from the Fall," moving family history short "The Anniversary" and romantic comedy "How to Fight in Six Inch Heels," in addition to post-production work on martial arts film "The Rebel." — AFP-Relaxnews  |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:53 PM PDT
A memorial service is being held at the Tamburello corner where the triple world champion's Williams careered off into a concrete barrier on lap seven at 190mph (307km/h). He was airlifted to Bologna hospital but was pronounced dead at 6.40pm local time on that ill-fated Sunday. Today's ceremony comes after a week of commemorative events held to mark the tragic accident that claimed the life of the driver regarded by many as the greatest of all time and which ushered in a raft of changes to improve F1 safety. The Senna anniversary is made all the more poignant as another great F1 driver, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, continues his fight for life after the German's skiing accident on December 29. Ironically, it was Schumacher who went on to win the Imola race 20 years ago. Senna's death, 24 hours after Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed and two days after his fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was injured, was the sport's blackest weekend. And all this week emotional tributes have been paid to the 1988, 1990 and 1991 champion. "He was an incredible legend," said 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton. "You like to think that one day you may be recognised as someone that was able to drive similarly to him," added the Mercedes driver. "On my schoolbooks I didn't have pictures of girls, obviously I was too young but I had Ayrton there and the same in my room," said 2005/06 champion Fernando Alonso. Senna's sister Viviane, told AFP this week that her brother's legacy is alive and well through the Ayrton Senna Institute which she chairs. She recalls a conversation she had with him weeks before his death when he told her how he wanted to contribute to a better future for Brazil by helping to open up opportunities for children. She said: "Ayrton really wanted Brazil to work, for everyone to have a chance and from this dream the Institute was born. "Currently, we are working with more than two million children and training some 75,000 teachers per year across around 1,000 cities around the country." Senna's death prompted extensive changes, including the reform of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. Engine capacities were reduced and tethers to help prevent wheels flying off following accidents were introduced. The HANS device to protect drivers' heads and necks were made compulsory, and run-offs were extended and improved. As evidence that the improvements put in place worked the last F1 fatality in a grand prix was Senna. Imola is opening its door to F1 fans from today through Sunday when as well as the Tamburello corner ceremony there will be a parade, a presentation on current F1 security and a F1 drivers' charity football match. — AFP |
| Obama Days in KL, a hallucination of sorts Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:32 PM PDT MAY 1 — I give up. Sometimes you just have to. Understanding the Malaysian government at times takes scholastic rigour I cannot rise up to, especially this past week. For what seems a lifetime, we have been told that liberalism, pluralism and multiculturalism are banes to the Malaysian way of life. Seriously, there are not that many more ways to be unequivocal about its position on the matter, ministers just come out and say it — sometimes one and another, and at times all three. In summary, bad, bad and super bad. Malaysia fears the scourge of liberalism, braces for the corruption of the self which is pluralism and admonishes multiculturalism because it foolishly postulates that people are the same and they have to know each other on equal terms to be a harmonious society. Officially, we are to believe only the putrid mind of a remorseless Western zealot bent on destroying Malaysia would produce such vileness, and our countrymen are best advised to fight this encroachment all day, all night, even during bathroom breaks. Piss on yellow culture and douse it with stink. So far clear, harnessing and regulating bigotry is more productive and realistic than stamping it out. OK, right. Don't use the force, give in to the dark side and feed the storm-troopers. Then the Malaysian government goes out of its way to welcome a half Kenyan-half white ex-law professor — have you heard of an illiberal don? — who did smoke marijuana in college, later became a local community organiser which means he was a social activist and now the doyen of multiculturalists worldwide, to Malaysia for a celebrated trip. The fact he is President of the United States does not blemish Barack Obama's out and out liberal leanings, and yet Malaysia's willingness to oblige the global symbol of "leaving the hate behind" is just loco. Malaysia rebutted its own relentless arguments championing archaic racism and indifference by rolling in The Trojan Horse. It's akin to rows of sea and land monsters like Godzilla providing a guard of honour for Ultraman, and then destroying the city inhabitants after Ultraman flies off, as he does without fail to protect other cities. As you can see, it's dumbfounding considering what has transpired. Much of the dry stuff is already in the press, however I'd want to imagine the more surreal conversations he may have had with the Malaysian leadership. I'm speculating, but there would have been a bunch of chats in that 48 hours. Because for every waking hour he was in Kuala Lumpur, every minister including the prime minister tried to milk every photo op, or even selfies, with the Hawaiian born leader of the free world! Let's hallucinate these encounters. (The following conversations did not actually transpire, they really did not) Just my imagination While I am certain there would have been some territorial tension when the Home Minister Zahid "Sheriff" Hamidi met the man in charge of the global police, the question must have been laid out, why is free speech under attack in Malaysia? Zahid would have rejected this and asked where in Malaysia this lie was being perpetuated so that he can ensure such lies are stopped. He'd say don't worry and wink assuredly, next time such fabrication against a benevolent 50-plus-year-old government will not be repeated. Instead I'd hasten to add he'd ask Obama not to travel around with too many black Secret Service agents. He'll outline the racial profiling practised by the authorities: One black man in Kuala Lumpur walking around is selling you fake watches, but several black men together then they are just up to no good and may get arrested. Anyhow, just to be safe all of them are rounded up one time or another, just good sense. The police, the minister would assure are not racist, even when they name sting operations against Africans as Operation Black Crow for instance. This would have been an appropriate time for Obama to slip out of the room and bump into the Minister in charge of Islamic Affairs Jamil Khir Baharom. Who else to ask about the multiple custodial disputes involving split up Muslim and non-Muslim ex-spouses over their offspring? The minister may have presented the standard response that laws on custody in civil courts should not matter. For when it is left to secular laws, children who may already be Muslims — even if the children themselves do not know about it — may be placed under the care of a non-Muslim parent, ultimately have their faith compromised. No can do, he'd add. At this juncture, the president might pray for an exit. For the situation defended means he should have been raised by his Kenyan father, who is Muslim, rather than by his non-Muslim mother, and even supports that later in his young life his Indonesian step-dad Lolo Soetoro should have had custody after his mom Stanley Ann Dunham ended her second marriage in Jakarta. Maybe the wrong US president to have sympathy for a lopsided legal process, but perhaps there is hope if he were to cross paths with the prime minister himself on the lawns of Putrajaya encircled by man-made lakes. Am I doing OK? Prime Minister Najib Razak may have asked "Barry", has he been a modern enough PM since he has taken enough selfies, posted on his vastly populated Twitter and Facebook accounts and branded his 1 Malaysia slogan up, down and sideways. Obama would have waxed lyrically about all that is wonderful about the country and the present government's government to keep the nation moderate. But were he to ask Najib what was the stratagem to keep him in power or to raise the nation's capacity irrespective of the moves cementing his power base, I suspect the PM would have a long pause. I'd be curious to know too, in the unlikely scenario it was asked. Because it would explain whether survivalist politicians or willing statesmen are in charge. Comments on conversations that never happened But as I put to you at the start, I give up on why the present government was determined to have Obama here. The direction it wants the country to head to, and the direction someone iconic like Obama tend to nudge people to — slowly but surely — are diametrically opposed. Or maybe, as detractors state it, any American president will be only concerned with national self-interest and would tell a home minister it's his country and as long as American factories are not ransacked then no harm no foul; or to the religious minister that faith is hard to comment on and that different nations have the right to their own laws no matter how contradictory they are; and to a prime minister that as long as Air Force One can land inside the city and the Chinese navy is not setting up base in Johor Baru then he is doing a spectacular job in harnessing the democratic energy of the country. Time will indeed tell if between the parades and bouquets being exchanged, the visit of Lyndon B Johnson in 1966 — at the height of the war in Vietnam and violent reorganisation in Indonesia — which was all public relations and to stem the red tide is repeated 48 years later by Obama. Perhaps not, since Obama started living a year later in 1967 for five years in Jakarta. He is the first president to have a personal account of the region and of what US national interest can do for the long term future of the region, which includes Malaysia. Maybe he does not want the same legacy, and perhaps some conversations transpired. This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Trump buys historical Turnberry Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:32 PM PDT
Trump said in a statement that he had agreed to buy the fabled links course on the west coast of Scotland, calling it "an honour and a privilege to own one of golf's greatest and most exciting properties." The Trump Organisation did not disclose terms of the deal, but the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Trump bought it for the "bargain price" of £35.7 million (RM 197 million) from Dubai-based Leisurecorp. Trump said he intended to invest "many millions of dollars" to improve the resort's Turnberry Hotel, although he said he wouldn't consider any changes to the golf course unless the Royal & Ancient, global golf's governing body, approve them. "I won't do anything to the golf course at all without their full stamp of approval," Trump told golf.com. Turnberry's Ailsa Course has hosted the Open Championship four times, most recently in 2009, when Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson in a playoff. Watson won the first and most famous edition of the Open to be held at Turnberry, claiming a one-stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus in 1977, their final round battle known as the "Duel in the Sun." Australian Greg Norman lifted the Claret Jug at Turnberry in 1986 and Zimbabwe's Nick Price won there in 1994. — AFP |
| Dollar stunned by dismal GDP data but Fed unfazed Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:30 PM PDT
Any follow-through selling of dollar in Asia is likely to be modest, with much of the region shut for a public holiday and ahead of the influential US jobs report tomorrow. The market is also waiting for a survey on China's manufacturing sector due at 0100 GMT. A Reuters poll showed factory activity probably picked up slightly in April, so any disappointment could hit risk sentiment. Such an outcome may support the safe-haven yen. The dollar index last traded at 79.511, having fallen 0.4 per cent yesterday after data showed the United States grew at an annualised pace of just 0.1 per cent in the first quarter. While the result was well below even the most pessimistic forecast, it did not deter the Federal Reserve from reducing its bond-buying support by another US$10 billion (RM32.6 billion) a month as expected. "The statement issued after the FOMC meeting had only minimal changes," analysts at Nomura wrote in a note to clients. "The Committee noted that growth slowed 'sharply' over the winter, acknowledging implicitly the GDP report. But the Committee also noted that economic activity 'picked up recently'." The relatively upbeat outlook from the Fed helped calm the forex market somewhat, and gave stock investors a reason to drive the Dow to a record closing high. Pressure on the greenback helped the euro bounce to US$1.3870 from a three-week trough of US$1.3770. Against the yen, the dollar traded at ¥102.25, nursing a 0.4 per cent fall. The greenback fell sharply against the New Zealand dollar, which rallied 0.8 per cent to a near one-week high of US$0.8633. It was last at US$0.8613. The euro outperformed the dollar even in the face of price data that missed expectations. Data showed euro-area inflation picked up slightly to 0.7 per cent in April from 0.5 per cent, undershooting the 0.8 per cent consensus. Analysts said the result would probably not spur a reluctant European Central Bank to ease policy at its meeting next week, although many suspect the ECB will eventually have to act to counter the threat of deflation. "The modest downside surprise does not materially change the outlook for ECB in the May or June meetings," analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note to clients. "The possibility of some action in these meetings is perhaps only modestly higher, but the action, if any, will be incremental and thus still slightly bearish for EUR/USD heading into ECB next week." — Reuters |
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