Ted's Thoughts

Neil Gaiman's Personal Library.

2009-09-05T08:30:00.000+08:00

Neil Gaiman's personal library is like... well... it's like a library. A really nice and cosy library.

Tunku Halim's Speculative History.

2009-08-31T14:29:00.000+08:00

Tunku Halim has an intriguing post which starts with the sentence:

"On 26 April 1994, in an elaborate ceremony at the Istana Negara, Tuanku Simon Mackay was appointed as Malaysia’s 10th Yang DiPertuan Agong"

What follows is the best speculative writing I've read this year. Tunku Halim, I want more!

REVIEW: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.

2009-08-28T10:11:00.000+08:00

Not really cutting edge but here's a review wot I wrote ages ago. It just got published in The Star today. How nice.

What's Up Ted.

2009-08-01T18:35:00.000+08:00

Just a small update for you. I've just had the craziest week... and signs are pointing that the weeks to come are just going to get crazier.

Probably not as crazy as winning RM50,000 though, which I (along with my fellow team members, Ash and Lina) did.

A couple of months ago, me, Ash and Lina decided to take part in a little competition. All we had to do was send in a proposal to design a computer game.

No problem. Except that I was doing (and am still doing) the CELTA course, an intensive English teacher training course. I ended up having to accomodate sleepless nights just to get the presentation for the game proposal, my lesson plan for a class the day before the game presentation AND an assignment done in time.

So! The lesson here: burn the midnight oil if you want to end up holding a mock cheque like this:

Hurray!

3 Language-related Things Which Really Annoy Me.

2009-07-05T05:19:00.002+08:00

1. Excuse, please.
Guys, it's "excuse me, please." Every time I hear this on the train I have to fight the urge to reply, "excuse who?" and not move aside.

2. Pronouncing the word "liaise" as "lie-us".
It's pronounced "lee-eh-zz", not "liars". I swear if I hear someone call me a liar(s) again I'm gonna punch him/her in the ear.

3. Could of, should of, would of, must of
It's could've, should've, would've, must've. Why the hell is that so hard to get???

Signed,
Ted
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Grammar Nazi

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

2009-06-01T17:58:00.002+08:00

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago.

Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time!

The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it.

All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame.

On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day covers for years and was hoping to get back into it with a really cool cover but I guess this was not to be. I was expecting much more effort for something like this. Hopefully the next one will be more interesting but I doubt it. The next theme planned is "Conservation of the Environment" which isn't exactly an inspiring theme.

My Resolution for July.

2009-06-01T01:22:00.004+08:00

Waking up before 11am would be nice. Also might get me in less trouble at work.

UPDATE:
Epic fail. Woke up at 10 minutes to noon.

UPDATEUPDATE:
I can no longer tell the difference between June and July. DOUBLE EPIC FAIL

Commies in our Midst.

2009-05-29T16:53:00.002+08:00

I have a little time on my hands again! Time to blog! Can't be bothered to continue where I left off the previous time because I don't remember I wanted to talk about now so I'll just mention something strange I saw in the online edition of a widely read national newspaper.

The recent issue our esteemed politicians have gotten themselves in a fit concerns The Red Menace, more specifically, Chin Peng, leader of the ageing and no longer scary Communist Party of Malaya, and whether he can be forgiven and allowed to return home to our country to die.

With that in mind, here's a screenshot of today's local news page of said national newspaper:

Take note of the news items in the red boxes. While our benevolent leaders don't seem to want to forgive the communists closer to home, they seem to have no qualms with getting in bed with Chin Peng's sponsors.

It all becomes even more weird when you take into account that the newspaper in question here is called "The Star", which employs a very communisty red for its masthead.

Having said that, the first day cover mentioned in the second news item looks rather nice. I recently topped up my standing order deposit account with Pos Malaysia, so I'm hoping to get it in the mail quite soon.

I didn't bother thinking of a title.

2009-05-21T20:12:00.001+08:00

Well, I'm back.

I thought I'd better start blogging again before some part of my brain starts sprouting cobwebs or something. The reason I stopped blogging was things were starting to become a little out of control in my life and so I had to put blogging on the back burner while I...

...goddammit. I was just called into a meeting. I'll finish this rant whenever.

RIP, JG Ballard.

2009-04-20T11:34:00.000+08:00

I didn't intend to blog again so soon, but news of JG Ballard's death kind of shocked me. I know I should've expected it, since he's been ill for some time now, but I guess I was hoping he would make it.

Haven't read Crash, but I watched the Cronenberg movie and thought it was really bizarre. Loved his more conventional––if one can truly say that about him––science fiction novels though.

Okay, back to being on hiatus.

Celebrating World Book Day with BookXcess.

2009-04-18T14:56:00.000+08:00

Received an email from BookXcess:

Hi Ted!

We're having a super promotion in conjunction with the World Book Day celebrations. Even our latest shipment arrived in time for our latest sale! :-D Award-winning books with 20% discount, free books for nett purchases above RM20, RM20 vouchers for nett purchases above RM200... there's just so much going on at BookXcess! We would truly appreciate it if you can help spread the word in your blog to your esteemed readers and share the joy of reading more for less at BookXcess! Attached is the e-poster we have created for the occasion.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Hope to see you soon at BookXcess!

Warmest regards,
Andrew & Jacqueline Yap

Click on the poster to enlarge.

Sorry this isn't a proper post or anything. Just don't have the time to concentrate on blogging at the moment.

Still Alive.

2009-02-03T14:08:00.015+08:00

I'm still breathing! But this blog seems to be on life support. Well, you know the story ... busy and all that.

Hopefully I'll be back in full force around March or April.

HOWTO: Write in a World Full of Distractions.

2009-01-10T13:54:00.000+08:00

Cory Doctorow, of Boing Boing fame and author of quite a number of SF novels (look 'em up 'cos I'm too lazy to google them for you), has an article up on Locus Online on how to deal with the distractions of the Internet while writing.

He doesn't believe in switching it off--the most obvious route--but has a number of useful tips to keep those distractions at bay. Some of them are obvious, like switching off your IM and carving out a regular writing routine, but the one I find most useful is his cautioning not to research:

Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web. Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite." "TK" appears in very few English words (the one I get tripped up on is "Atkins") so a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards. And your editor and copyeditor will recognize it if you miss it and bring it to your attention.

Follow the link to read more!

It is the New Year! Time to write about porn.

2009-01-06T16:43:00.001+08:00

Yes! What an excellent idea!

Unfortunately, though excellent it may be, it is only impossible for me to do so. Therefore, permit me to pass you an equally excellent link: Soiled Doves of the Old West.

And if you're wondering what prompted this non sequitur of a post, I will have to say I've changed genres in my reading. For the past year or so, I've been telling everyone who's bothered to listen to me that I was in my Science Fiction phase and most of my reading has been SF-related. I guess it's safe to say I've since switched to reading Westerns...

...yeah, I know. Not an improvement on my literary tastes, but I rewatched Sergio Leone's masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West recently and it dredged up a longing inside me for the Wild West.

Am currently reading Louis L'amour's Flint, which is enjoyable but the writing keeps raising my inner editor's warning sirens (Character perspectives change mid-paragraph! Repetition!). I also found True Grit by Charles Porter at BookXcess which I bought immediately and will read once I've finished Flint.

Retrospective 08.

2008-12-31T21:00:00.000+08:00

While 2007 was awesome for me, 2008 was not.

A lot of things did not go well for me and people close to me this past year, and I'm not even counting my writing failures yet. I won't go into my non-writing disappointments this past year but I will touch on my writing disappointments.

Of the three resolutions I made earlier this year, I achieved none. No surprise there, really ... since when have I kept a resolution? But still! Pretty disappointing! I mean, I would have loved to have finished that novel and would have been blown away to be able to write 12 short stories, one for each month.

As it stands, not only have I not finished the novel, I went and started another unfinished novel for this year's NaNoWriMo, and I didn't even finish that. I did write 5 or so short stories this year, but all of them are unfinished.

Yep, 2008 was an epic fail and not a year I will look back on fondly. On the other hand, I did have more book reviews published this year than the previous year. Yay!

I look forward to 2009, a chance for me to redeem myself.

Resolutions for 2009:

Finish that novel. (One day I will achieve this, you wait and see!)
Write six short stories, one for every two months. (Maybe that's more doable...)
Start submitting to foreign pubs again. (Didn't submit at all this year, how embarrassing!)

Okay! Enough whining and self-pitying! Happy New Year everyone!

REVIEW: Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup.

2008-12-30T09:00:00.006+08:00

This review was published in The Star on 28th December 2008.

Unusual Whodunnit
Review by TED MAHSUN

Instead of following along in the steps of a detective unravelling a crime, we’re given a different perspective in this simply-told but cracking good mystery.

SIX SUSPECTS
By Vikas Swarup
Publisher: DoubleDay, 472 pages
ISBN: 978-0385608169

VIKAS Swarup’s latest book, Six Suspects, looks conventional at a glance: a notorious mob tycoon, Vicky Rai, is murdered in his own house during a party, and there are six suspects. Sounds like a straightforward whodunnit, right?

Not quite. Unlike most crime novels, this novel does not employ a sleuth; well, not it in the conventional sense, anyway.

But then, Swarup is not your conventional novelist, either: he is a diplomat, currently posted in Pretoria as India’s Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa. His debut novel, Q & A, was also unusual in that its protagonist is a slum dweller who wins the jackpot on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire TV game show. Q & A was made into a film called Slumdog Millionaire by British filmmaker Danny Boyle. The recently-released movie garnered critical acclaim and made it into Time magazine’s list of top 10 movies of the year. (Both Six Suspects and Slumdog Millionaire are available at a discount in the coupon below.)

In Six Suspects, a sleuth does initially appear, in the form of investigative journalist, Arun Advani, and it is his newspaper articles that bookend the novel. However, though it is Arun who eventually uncovers the clues that lead to the murderer, it is not his story we follow. Instead, the reader is given the stories of each of the six suspects, with each story resembling a self-contained novella, detailing their varied backgrounds, mishaps, and adventures that will eventually lead to and converge on the scene of the crime.

It is to Swarup’s credit that he has managed to imbue each of these six suspects with enough character and detail that the reader cannot help but be swept along by the narrative.

Each suspect is distinct from each other with nary a generic character in sight:

There’s Mohan Kumar, former Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh state in India, once corrupt and selfish, now channelling the soul of Mahatma Gandhi himself.

Shabnam Saxena, a Bollywood star who quotes French Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Eketi, a 1.5m tribesman from the Andaman Islands who has come to the Indian mainland to search for a sacred stone stolen from his tribe.

Munna Mobile, so nicknamed because of his career as a mobile phone thief.

Larry Page, who isn’t the famous co-founder of Google, he just shares the same name and is in India to get married

And, lastly, Jagannath Rai, father of the murdered Vicky Rai, the corrupt Uttar Pradesh Home Minister who aspires to become Chief Minister.

Of these six, the most developed and interesting character to me is Eketi, the Onge tribesman from the Andamans.

It comes as no surprise to me that in the acknowledgements at the end of the book, Swarup mentions at least three books and a website about the Onge tribe that aided him in researching the character.

Eketi’s story is perhaps the most epic of the six. It is a sort of mini coming-of-age tale, with Eketi embarking on a quest across India to recover his tribe’s sacred stone, and discovering disappointment and betrayal along the way.

He is aided by the scheming Ashok, a junior welfare officer stationed in the Andamans who has a selfish reason of his own for finding the sacred stone.

Their travels through various locales, from a eunuch colony in Kashi to the slums of Mehrauli, provide many chances for the author to give readers a tour, albeit a generalised one, of India. Some readers may appreciate this, but I suppose those familiar with the country would likely be unimpressed.

The least interesting character – though I have to say this is a novel in which even the least interesting character remains engaging – is Larry Page.

It certainly seems as if Swarup didn’t put in the same amount of research and effort into creating Larry that he did for Eketi – and what research he did do was based on episodes of the TV soap, Dallas! You see, Larry comes across as a stereotypical redneck American. While such people may exist in real life, in fiction, this simplicity in personality comes across on the page as nothing more than a two-dimensional cardboard cutout.

Even so, as trite as the character may be, Swarup’s fast-paced and easy flowing prose allows the reader to forgive this setback. Larry’s misfortunes in India – losing his passport and money, and eventually being kidnapped by a terrorist cell – thankfully, make for a delightful and humorous read, and provide yet another chance for the author to caricature India’s “exotic” elements.

Taken as a whole, Six Suspects is an enjoyable and light read. Granted, it is no literary masterpiece; in many ways it is too generalising and too stereotypical.

Don’t go in expecting a Salman Rushdie or a Vikram Seth novel. There are certainly no verbal pyrotechnics to be found, and the only glimpse of magic realism remains just that, a tiny glimpse.

But I say this not because I scorn the novel. On the contrary, I rather like the simple tone the book takes. Swarup does not seem to want to show off; there’s no putting on of airs here.

Six Suspects may lean towards being literary by being slightly unconventional but it doesn’t take a Sherlock (sorry, couldn’t resist!) to know what the author intended to write: a good mystery crime novel – and in my opinion, he’s succeeded.

REVIEW: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.

2008-12-29T09:00:00.005+08:00

This review was published in The Star on 28th December 2008.

Revisiting Columbine
Review by TED MAHSUN

THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED
By Wally Lamb
Publisher: HarperCollins, 832 Pages
ISBN: 978-0007290697

THERE’S a selection of the book-reading populace that thumbs its collective noses at books picked by talk show host Oprah Winfrey for her Oprah’s Book Club.

I don’t get this. Shouldn’t one judge a book by its own merit rather than dismissing it just because one isn’t fond of the talk show host?

I was pondering this after I finished reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, whose previous two novels had both been selected for discussion by Oprah’s Book Club. It would be such a shame if Lamb’s latest novel is disregarded just because Oprah likes it!

Well, those who hate her book club ... they won’t know what they’re missing. The novel is intriguing and enjoyable; it constantly reminded me why I enjoy reading.

The novel weaves fiction and fact by placing its two central characters, Caelum Quirk and his wife Maureen, at the centre of one of the United States’ most tragic events in recent history, the Columbine high school massacre.

Both of them work at the school: Caelum is a teacher and Maureen is a school nurse. On the fateful day of the tragedy, Maureen is trapped in a closet while she listens to the students getting shot.

Caelum – though away during the tragedy to visit a dying aunt – is deeply affected when he discovers that many of the students he once taught and teachers he worked with were either dead or terribly wounded.

Lamb should be given credit for being able to write about Columbine in an intriguing way, yet treating the subject respectfully by not resorting to sensationalism or finger-pointing.

In fact, the chapters focusing on the tragedy are written in a neutral, journalistic style and Lamb tries to be as unbiased as possible.

Although, at first, it may appear that the novel revolves just around the Columbine massacre, the author cleverly uses this tragic event as a jumping point and takes us further by following the lives of the two characters after the tragedy.

Though she survives the ordeal, Maureen is psychologically scarred and finds it hard to recover from her trauma. She winds up being addicted to painkillers and antidepressants and so Caelum decides that it may be a good idea to move back to his family farm in hope that getting Maureen away from it all might increase her chances of recovery.

The Quirk family farm, which Caelum inherited when his aunt died, is not the solve-all that Caelum hopes it to be. Maureen shows little signs of improving and while Caelum tries his best to help her, he is obviously not a flawless human being either.

He has anger management and insecurity issues, which result from his wife having had an affair some years earlier, as well as his own painful childhood.

The Hour I First Believed, it turns out, is also a novel about the burden of family and the many skeletons a family can hide in its closet.

Caelum’s attempt to confront his past while coming to terms with his own tragedy ultimately become the path towards finding faith and meaning in his own life.

All this adds up to a wonderful and engaging read, a truly modern and contemporary epic journey.

Tales of the Unexpected.

2008-12-28T13:19:00.001+08:00

Well, that was unexpected. I not only have one, but two book reviews in today's Star. The other review is for Wally Lamb's Hour I First Believed.

I only noticed when I went out to get my own deadtree copy. I'd have noticed sooner though if only Google Alerts wasn't being so choosy...

Anyways! A few months ago, I was given an advanced review copy (or as they call it, ARC) of Wally Lamb's Hour I First Believed for review, but when I finally finished writing the review, MPH Bookstores, who provided the ARC, told me they decided not to have a promo for the book so I thought, well that's that. Maybe the review wasn't going to be published.

Turns out the Star editors turned to another bookstore to get a promo discount coupon from them instead. Neat!

So there you go. If you get a copy of today's deadtree edition of The Star, you'll get a 25% discount coupon for both Hour I First Believed, Six Suspects and even Vikas Swarup's earlier book, Slumdog Millionaire (formerly published as Q&A).

I have a review in The Star today.

2008-12-28T12:28:00.000+08:00

Dude, I totally forgot. I woke early today too – a rare event for me on a Sunday – to go to the dentist's. If I had remembered then I could have just picked up a copy while I was out. Dammit, now I have to make the long trek out to civilisation.

Anyways, behold, a review of Vikas Swarup's Six Suspects, just for you.

Met An Old Friend Last Night.

2008-12-15T15:13:00.001+08:00

Met an old friend last night. It was his wedding. Haven't met him in at least 8 or 9 years. And now he's a doctor!

That Post-Writing Feeling.

2008-12-01T22:25:00.000+08:00

Ahh! I feel pretty good.

I just finished writing a book review and it was the easiest peasiest book review I've ever written. Usually a book review would take me days to finish (sometimes even weeks!), but this one just took me 45 minutes.

Can't say what book the review is for, because I haven't sent it in for publication yet. This isn't on commission so I won't know whether they'll publish it ... until they do.

In the meantime, I'll be basking in that nice post-writing afterglow. It feels nice and warm!

It's December.

2008-12-01T14:03:00.000+08:00

And before long it will be the New Year.

Hurray.

Well, NaNoWriMo was a complete and epic fail for me. It wasn't all a loss though. I do have the beginnings of a novel that I'm pretty excited to continue writing, but for now I'll have to shelve it because I'd like to continue writing the novel I was working on before November ... which was really last year's NaNo project.

Anyways, did you hear the news? Syed Alwi passed away. What a bummer huh? I enjoyed immensely his play "Alang Rentak Seribu" and regret I haven't seen any of his other theatre productions.

Al-fatihah.

One can never claim a shortage of short story writing opps in these parts.

2008-11-26T13:20:00.000+08:00

From Amir's blog again:

BODY 2 BODY
Writings on Alternative Sexuality in Malaysia
Edited by Jerome Kugan and Pang Khee Teik
Published by Matahari Books

-

CALL FOR ENTRIES

1. Writings should depict queer or alternative sexuality in Malaysia, or of Malaysian queers' experience in the world.

2. Possible Genre: fiction, true life accounts, essays, memoir, excerpts from novel or play. We do not accept verse.

3. Queer includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, transvestite, transgendered, intersexed.

4. Possible topics: coming out, forced out, going back in, love found, love lost, love squandered, encounters with homophobia, trying to go straight, married life, being friends with a queer person, being seduced by a queer friend, self-loathing, religion, family, work, studies, activism, etc.

5. Writers can be Malaysian or non-Malaysians. Writers can be queer or straight.

6. All writing must be in English, or translated into English. The writers are responsible for getting their own translations done. Minimal use of other languages is acceptable with explanatory notes.

7. Writers should use their actual names. A pen name is allowed when the writer has been publicly associated with that name.

8. You're advised to submit no more than 3,000 words. However, the maximum is 4,000.

9. Deadline: Sat 28 Feb, 2009

10. The editors plan to select up to 20 pieces of writings.

11. Book will be launched at Seksualiti Merdeka 2009 at The Annexe Gallery in August 2009.

12. Please email entries to matahari.books@gmail.com with the heading "Body2Body"

13. Writers who are selected will share 10% of the royalties from the sales. Conversely, they can choose to receive 4 books in lieu of royalties.

-

EDITORS' BIO

Pang Khee Teik is the Arts Programme Director for The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Annexe, Kuala Lumpur. He was formerly the editor of Kakiseni.com. Pang has also been involved in theatre, independent films, writing and even a spot of experimental dancing.

Jerome Kugan is a writer and musician who has been living and working in Kuala Lumpur since 2000. Besides being the Media Manager at The Annexe Gallery, he is the creator of Poetika and one of the organisers for KL Sing Song.

In Aug 2008, Pang and Jerome organised Seksualiti Merdeka, Malaysia's first sexuality rights fest at The Annexe Gallery.

PUBLISHER

Matahari Books is a publishing company, set up by the writer and occasional movie-maker Amir Muhammad, that specialises in non-fiction books about Malaysia. Its first book in 2007 was Volume 1 of Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things, which was an immediate best-seller. It published five books in 2008, including a tie-in screenplay book for the hit film Kami. All its books are sold in major Malaysian bookstores as well as Amazon.com.

* If you have comments on this, do post them on the Matahari Books Facebook group :-)

A-ha! Malaysian Gay Lit! A veritable Blue Ocean in the Malaysian publishing industry, if ever there was one.

George.

2008-11-25T15:42:00.000+08:00

Three eggs. Hah! Take that, George Orwell!

Jemputan ke Peluncuran Kitab Pengetahuan Hantu Malaysia.

2008-11-21T14:20:00.001+08:00

Here's an announcement from Amir Muhammad:

Bapak-bapak, ibu-ibu, jambu-jambu dan awek-awek hadhari dijemput ke acara yang santai lagi gerek: Pelancaran buku KITAB PENGETAHUAN HANTU MALAYSIA.

Buku sususan Danny Lim ini telah diterjemahkan secara sahih oleh Ahmad Kamal Abu Bakar.

Ketahuilah asal-usul, sifat serta tumit-tumit Achilles puluhan hantu dan roh yang menjadi khazanah budaya masyarakat sibilis (sekular, pluralis dan liberalis) kita.

Tempat: Bau Bau Cafe, The Annexe, Central Market.
Tarikh: 5 Disember (Jumaat)
Masa: 8:30pm hingga LRT senyap.

Terdapat hiburan oleh beberapa kumpulan gitar rancak yang akan diumumkan kelak. Juga pembacaan mengejut oleh:
Ahmad Kamal Abu Bakar
Amir Muhammad
Danny Lim
Fahmi Fadzil
Shahril Nizam
Sharon Bakar
Ted Mahsun
dan beberapa lagi artis yang tak sempat masuk Bi-pop hari minggu lepas.

Buku akan berada di toko-toko hanya 2 minggu setelah tarikh pelancaran, jadi dapatkanlah di sini agar anda tidak frust menonggeng.

Harga buku: RM20. Tebal: 115 mukasurat.

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