...of the now #26/01/09#

Mogwai was in KL, and they were loud.

I just learned last night what loud meant, and boy it was loud. But Mogwai's music sounds better on a CD, I think. Live they are deafening and exhilarating yes, but the texture of their songs are lost amidst the sonic chaos that deals damage to ones ears.

But it was still awesome.

Post KT By-Election Thoughts

This Wiki article neatly summarizes the context and what was at stake in this by-election. Permatang Pauh may have been brushed aside by BN as an expected result, but it's quite clear that the Kuala Terengganu seat is the real battleground for BN and PR which PAS has managed to win.

I give you my thoughts in a neat point form:

• Let it be said that BN never really held the KT seat that tightly (they won by a slim 600+ vote majority).
• It is telling that PAS won by a few thousand ostensibly swing votes. One can draw a conclusion that BN has not really impressed the KT voters over the past year since the General Elections.
  
• But Kuala Terengganu hardly speaks of the whole nation's sentiment. The Opposition for example, has made very little headway in states like Johor. Time will tell if this will change.
• PAS is (perhaps) being perceived more as a component of Pakatan Rakyat i.e. the Opposition rather than that fundamentalist Islamist party that it is so often feared as.
• BN has some overhauling to do. Expect the blame game to begin among the now braver component parties.

See:-

Malaysiakini: PAS wins KT by 2,631 votes
The Star: PAS' Wahid wins KT seat

I Can See The Stars Now

If there is one thing I like about Seremban, it's that the night sky is much clearer. I can see the stars now, thanks to the lack of light pollution. Although, as a science teacher pointed out, it's hard to see a clear sky in the tropics due to the moisture in the air. Something like a smokescreen. Hence one must head to the desert or the colder countries to get that fairytale view of the stars.

But this is a start.

Restart

Here we go again. Again.