Give in to your curiosity and discover some treasures here! |
- Give in to your curiosity and discover some treasures here!
- A portrait of the comic artist as a young man
- ‘Koay teow th’ng’: A bowl of warm comfort
- Jailed tycoon Subrata Roy seeks buyers for hotels
- Paralaympic athlete Jong Yee Khie lifts bronze in Commonwealth Games powerlifting
- Selangor water pumping station sabotaged again
| Give in to your curiosity and discover some treasures here! Posted: 02 Aug 2014 06:00 PM PDT
What started out as a personal hobby became a full-blown business back in 2006. Danny used to collect vintage items together with his now business partner, Leng Chua, before they ran out of space. Their collection of antiques became so large that they knew it was time for them to do something about it. Danny and Leng Chua met online and they shared the same interest in old, unique furniture. They rented an empty house in Changkat Bukit Bintang to house the items back in the day. Once in awhile, they would invite friends over and someone would be interested in an item. It started off with them selling the items to their friends before they even considered doing it as a business. All of the antiques are hard to find and are usually one-of-a-kind so at first it was hard to sell things they had acquired. Usually, they would keep the best for themselves.
He explained that the younger generation is more open to the idea of vintage furniture... especially those who had studied abroad and were exposed to the trend. Joy Ho, Danny's younger sister, helps him out at The Curiousity Shop. She also has an interest in vintage items and decided to help out when Danny had problems with manpower. Previously, she was in the IT industry before joining The Curiousity Shop two years ago. Danny is in charge of production while Joy is more involved with admin work. Together, they manage the current store at 1Mont Kiara. Over the years, The Curiousity Shop has sold and produced furniture for restaurants, hotels and retail outlets. While most of the furniture is antique, some of the newer items are produced from recycled wood. "I got interested in vintage items when I started listening to oldies. Each era has different type of music and history. From there, I got interested in the culture of the era, and the type of furniture they used such as Danish furniture. In every era, there will be a new statement such as the Great American Dream," said Danny.
"It's like a rewind and forward," said Danny. The Curiousity Shop sources items from all Malaysia from places such as Penang, Malacca, Ipoh and Johore. They also get some items from Singapore. He also gets stuff from Scandinavia, the United States and Australia. What he looks for are rare and interesting items. Since starting the shop, Danny has learned a lot about vintage furniture such as the way the West makes furniture. The knowledge came in handy when he started producing his own furniture. The Curiousity Shop produces things such as tables, cabinets, kitchen fixtures and other interior items. The item can also be made from new materials as well upon request.
"We get a lot of expat customers in this area. Customers such as those from Denmark like to buy from our shop because they can find furniture they grew up with, things that they are familiar with," said Danny. "Thirty per cent of our customers are locals, another 30 per cent are designers while 40 per cent of them are foreigners," he said.
At The Curiousity Shop, you can get a stool from RM130 up to RM300 depending on the finishing. The price range of products starts from RM3 for a pencil (which is donated to refugees) up to RM80,000 for a vintage train. There are also options for renting the furniture for events for a period of three days onwards. The Curiousity Shop's furniture has been featured in TV series, fashion set-ups and exhibitions. The vintage trend has certainly helped to create a greater appreciation for antiques, giving The Curiousity Shop better exposure.
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| A portrait of the comic artist as a young man Posted: 02 Aug 2014 05:54 PM PDT
These are mostly mainstream American comics though. What about independent work with a more local flavour? Enter Filipino comic creator Andrew Drilon who was in town recently for the Cooler Lumpur Festival. Best known for his experimental webcomic, Kare-Kare Komiks, the affable 29-year-old is a regular cartoonist for The Philippine Star newspaper and a recipient of the Neil Gaiman Philippine Graphic/Fiction Award. "My entire life I have always loved comics. One of my earliest memories was picking up a comic book that my brother had left around the house. This was Crisis on Infinite Earths published by DC Comics. In fact, my mini-comic Supermaker was my way of paying homage to this bombastic thing that comics do. As I grew up, I realised that there are people making these comics – a writer, a penciller, an inker and a letterer – and I started to think maybe I can do this too," he says.
Self-publishing comics taught Drilon not to wait for perfection but to seek feedback constantly as a means of improving his craft. He recalls, "My first comic was called The Germinator – basically me stealing from Swamp Thing and The Authority and creating this superhero made from germs, set in the Philippines. It was really terrible, but it was a start. It gave me the sense of accomplishment because I had actually done something that I put out there that people were reading and responding to. Even the negative comments were great because those pushed me as an artist to be better." The young comic creator consequently got plenty of attention from established publishers before he even graduated high school. "I was asked to be part of this anthology which blew me away because all the creators there were already in their 30s and working, whereas I was just this 17-year-old kid who was self-publishing. That job led me to do a newspaper comic strip called RAN Online for five years." The newspaper was The Philippine Star, a national daily which meant Drilon had to learn to work within editorial constraints. "I had to make sure it was family-friendly as it was a tie-up with a local games company to advertise a Korean game. The costumes the characters wore were very skimpy so I had to worry about not showing too much. The crazy pressure with a weekly deadline was wonderful for me; I learned to keep doing it for five years and just putting it forward." Drilon credits this early exposure with giving him a solid foundation. "I'm not ashamed to say, my first year or so, I had some really terrible work that came out, but I sort of learned on the job. Ultimately I was forced to learn how to letter and to colour, to refine my drawing and make them print ready." The self-confessed comic geek's creative influences have matured over time. He says, "During high school, I was reading superhero comics such as X-Men and Spider-Man, which are great but not necessarily very sophisticated. Later, when writer Grant Morrison took over the X-Men, it showed me how my childhood X-Men could be interpreted in a drastically different way without altering its essence. I learned I could do more with comics."
This willingness to experiment and wear his Filipino background on his sleeve won Drilon many fans. He became the only Filipino invited to join The Chemistry Set, a collective of American webcomic creators. He says, "I got so much feedback for my Kare-Kare Komiks. What really touched me was how many Filipinos were suddenly actually reading my work, not just readers from abroad. With my work, I'm not ashamed to talk about my country. I'm not going to hide the fact I'm Filipino. This is the place I grew up in, and my comics are set in my country and in Manila."
He adds, "I feel we shouldn't be sad that we are appropriating Western languages and ideas. We should take ownership of them; they are ours now. I suspect in the future the label 'superhero' as a Western idea may be lost; it will just be a global idea. Just like English has just become one of the global languages, and Mandarin too." Currently, Drilon is working on his first full-length graphic novel, Black Clouds. "It started with me being invited to write a feature-length movie based on Filipino myths and horror stories. I contributed to the script and worked out the plot; I was also invited to do a graphic novel based on the movie. The thing is, it was supposed to be 80 pages, and then it became 120 pages. Last year it hit 160 pages and now I'm pushing 200. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger!"
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| ‘Koay teow th’ng’: A bowl of warm comfort Posted: 02 Aug 2014 05:53 PM PDT
Surprisingly, even on stifling hot and humid days, a bowl of this clear soup-based dish proves the perfect meal to soothe parched throats and cool rising temperatures. So, a bowl of koay teow th'ng can be eaten in the mornings for breakfast, afternoons for lunch or evenings for a light dinner. It is also a popular choice for a light snack in the afternoon or for supper. Due to its silken smooth noodles and warming soup, this is one dish that's suitable for those feeling under the weather as well, for young children and/or simply those yearning for some warm comforting food. A good bowl of koay teow th'ng must consist of the compulsory silken smooth, flat rice noodles, fish balls, strips of shredded chicken, pork or duck, minced pork, sliced fish cake, some pork innards and some greens as garnishing. This is one dish where the pale, plain look belies the multi-flavoured tastes in its clear broth. The soup base may be clear and watery but it is a concoction that is derived from simmering pork ribs in a pot of water over a slow fire to extract the rich meaty flavours from the ribs. Alternatively, some stalls use chicken stock where the chicken carcass is simmered over a low fire; seasoned with some salt, pepper, onion and garlic. The pork ribs or chicken used to cook the clear broth is then removed, shredded and set aside to be served with the noodles later. Koay teow th'ng is best served freshly prepared as the fresh flat rice noodles will first be scalded, rinsed off in cold water and then dunked into the pot of boiling broth before it is set aside in a bowl. Next comes the fish balls and sliced fish cake. These will be added to the broth until fully cooked, adding another layer of flavours to the soup base. Once the fish balls are cooked and bobbing in the broth, the soup is ladled over the waiting noodles and the dish is then garnished with the shredded chicken or pork and some greens consisting of chopped spring onions and lettuce. The resulting dish is a full-flavoured clear soup rich in a variety of tastes and textures. It is a strong meat-flavoured soup with just the slightest hint of the sea from the fish balls complemented by the smooth rice noodles while the bits of meat and fresh greens give the whole concoction some crunch and bite. Koay teow th'ng is a rather common hawker food at many hawker stalls and coffee shops in Malaysia. Here are some koay teow th'ng stalls to try out in Penang: 1. Fook Cheow Cafe, Jalan Hutton GPS: 5.421381,100.328412 Time: 7am-1pm 2. Lebuh Kimberley GPS: 5.415709,100.33402 Time: 8am-noon 3. Cafe Fountain, Lebuh Carnavon GPS: 5.414139,100.333057 Time: 6pm-midnight 4. Cecil Street market hawker center GPS: 5.407645,100.328795 Time: 9am-6pm 5. Lebuh Clarke GPS: 5.420836,100.331392 Time: 8am-1pm  |
| Jailed tycoon Subrata Roy seeks buyers for hotels Posted: 02 Aug 2014 05:52 PM PDT
The Supreme Court on Friday gave the flamboyant founder of India's Sahara media-to-finance empire "10 working days" to use a special conference room at New Delhi's sprawling Tihar Jail complex "to negotiate sale of three foreign properties". Up for grabs are two famous hotels — New York's Plaza Hotel and Grosvenor House in London — along with the Dream Downtown in New York, that Roy purchased to accumulate a luxury accommodation portfolio. "There are people interested in the properties, we can't say more," the Sahara India Pariwar official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "We expect it (the conference room) to start getting the equipment in by Tuesday," the Sahara official added. The Supreme Court jailed Roy, known for his rags-to-riches story and mansion modelled on the US White House, in March after he missed a court appearance in a long-running row with security regulators. Roy needs to raise 100 billion rupee (RM5.139 billion) bail set by the court to obtain his freedom. Indian media reports say Indian pharmaceutical billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla and US-based Madison Capital Holdings may be interested in the properties. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur allowed Roy and two jailed company directors three secretaries, video-conferencing and computers to facilitate sale negotiations. The three men will sleep at the conference facilities and be allowed to work from six in the morning until eight at night to allow for international time differences. Sahara raised 200 billion rupees from millions of small savers through an illegal bond scheme. Regulators ordered the group to pay the money back—even though the Supreme Court said there were "serious doubts about the existence" of the investors, fuelling long-running allegations of money-laundering. Sahara has always denied the allegations and insisted the company was only helping poor, mainly rural investors who are hard to locate. "These hotels are on the block and whether they will be sold or whether they will enter into another arrangement with an investor they will only say at a later stage," Roy's lawyer, Harish Salve, told reporters separately. Roy, who always appears in court dapperly dressed in suit and tie, acquired a 75-per cent-stake in the Plaza in 2012 just as his legal woes were mounting. The three hotels are valued at a total of around US$1.6 billion, according to a valuation cited by the Supreme Court. — AFP  |
| Paralaympic athlete Jong Yee Khie lifts bronze in Commonwealth Games powerlifting Posted: 02 Aug 2014 05:51 PM PDT
Yee Khie lifted 178kg to take third place in the event that was won by Abdul Azeez Ibrahim from Nigeria with a lift of 197kg while Rajinder Rahelu from India won the silver with 180.5kg. Yee Khie said he was excited to contribute a medal to the Malaysian contingent competing in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. "This is the most meaningful victory of my career because I won a medal at an international competition for the first time," Yee Khie told reporters, here yesterday. Another Malaysian powerlifter Mohd Shahmil Md Saad finished fifth with a lift of 168.8kg. — Bernama  |
| Selangor water pumping station sabotaged again Posted: 02 Aug 2014 05:50 PM PDT
He said the incident happened on Friday at about 2.30am. "The officers working on site found that six powerpack pumps, which transport water to treatment plant, were destroyed by cutting off the cables to the pumps," he said. "It may be the same person as the last sabotage," he said, referring to a similar incident last week. Ahmad Yunus said the damage would not disrupt the raw water supply to the treatment plant and consumers should not worry about water supply being interrupted. He said another police report would be lodged. "The Selangor government demands the enforcement bodies to take stern action against the culprits and increase security in the area, so the incident is not repeated." Last Wednesday, the state government lodged a police report claiming a group of people was trying to disrupt the water pumping to a river from the Hybrid Off-River Augmentation System (Horas) in Bestari Jaya, Selangor at 3am on July 26. The attempted sabotage caused a five-hour delay in the operation to pump water from Horas to the river and halted the production of 70 million litres of water. "The water pumping site is capable of pumping 500 million litres a day to the treatment plants. If it pumps less than 300 million litres a day, then the pumps are faulty," Ahmad Yunus said.  |
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