Dear friends and acquaintance,

Yours truly is going to need thy help. I have worked and have been saving this piece for over a year now, and I need thy comment and advise. This is a story I wrote purposely for children. As I remembered mine was filled with wonderful epic children story and tales such as Johny Appleseed, Maruschka and the 12 Months, Momotaro The Peach Boy and the likes, I would really love to have been able to tell tales and share them. My hopes are high in bringing inspiration and joy to children and adults alike through my stories. And I do hope my first sample here is worthy of publication.

Thus, I seek thy advise. Please leave comments, dear friends. I am open to any comments (if it's crappy, do say so) and suggestion. Although this piece, I admit, is rather straight-forward, I promise thee, my friend, that my next produce will be more oddly colourful, animated and eccentric than this. But for now, I present to thee.....

The Corn Boy
There was once in a village by the valley,
Far, far away from the country,
In a house on a cornfield that grew plentifully,
Lived a happy family of three.

A hardworking man, the father is,
Struggling through all the thick and tall,
With two bright sons, he was in bliss,
The youngest one was the brightest of all.
Taught them well, the father had,
To love the young, respect the old
'And value this cornfield’ said the dad,
‘Our wealth is of his,’ that’s what they’ve been told.

A proud father, the eldest had made him,
A diligent farmer and a successful corn vendor,
The youngest spent more on thinking,
That made the father worried and wonder

‘My son, what will become of you?’ he said,
‘Be more like your brother. He is very successful,’
But the boy replied ‘Forgive me please, dearest dad,
I don’t wish to be a rebel and break your rule.
I wish to be a better man of victory,
But a corn vendor I wish I would not be.’
Surprised, was the father, with anger and fury,
‘Be gone, away! You disappoint me!’

The words of the father had made him sad,
He gathered his belongings and his ambition too,
One day, you’ll be selling corn again,’ said dad.
‘So take this cart of corn, and the donkey with you,’

‘I’ll take the corn, but not to sell.
I’ll make something else of it,’ said the son.
Held close his brother, and bid him farewell,
Away on his journey which had just begun.

The boy arrived to a house near the lake,
Where the air was filled with great smell of bakery,
At the window, there’s a fat Baker with a cake,
Saying ‘Hey, Corn Boy! Come here, come to me!’
‘How much do you sell your corn, young lad?’
Said the Baker, ‘I wish to make corn bread, you see.’
‘It’s free, take and plant some corn in your yard.
But in return, for a month, please teach me bakery.’

Gladly, the Baker took the boy in his care,
For a month they planted corn and learnt bakery,
The boy learnt fast with no time to spare,
Packed some bread and corn, and continued his journey

The boy arrived to a house by the river,
In a garden of carrots, cabbages and green celery,
Out in the open, stood a tall skinny Farmer,
Saying ‘ Hey, Corn Boy! Come here, come to me,’ ‘
How much are your bread and corn, young lad?’
Said the Farmer, ‘A stew with bread and corn can be delectable.’
‘It’s free, take and plant some corn in your yard.
But in return, for a month, teach me how to cook vegetables.’

Gladly, the Farmer took the boy in his care,
For a month they planted corn and learnt cooking,
The boy learnt fast with no time to spare,
Packed some vegetables with the corn and kept on moving.

The boy arrived to a house on a hill,
Scattered with cocks, birds and all the poultry,
On the open porch, sat a cheerful Griller still,
Saying ‘ Hey, Corn Boy! Come here, come to me,’
‘How much are your corn and goods, young lad?’
Said the Griller, ‘I’m cooking a complete chicken dinner for the family’
‘It’s free, take and plant some corn in your yard.
But in return, for a month, teach me how to make dishes from poultry.’

Gladly, the Griller took the boy in his care,
For a month they planted corn and learnt the art of grill and roast,
The boy learnt fast with no time to spare,
With chicken, vegetables, bread and corn, he went away to the coast.

The boy arrived to a city at the coast,
Where boats and seamen just got back from the sea,
On the jetty, stood a Fisherman, so boast,
And the boy approached the man, who stood there arrogantly,
‘Sir, would you want to buy some bread,
Or corn, or vegetables or this healthy poultry?’
‘Boy, see that we’re very rich,’ the man said,
‘We already have those, a lot in this city,’

‘Unless if you have with you beef instead,
You can trade anything for a brisket or steak,’
The boy replied, ‘I shall take my corn and bread,
I’ll search for beef, and in a month, I’ll be back,’

So, the boy went on to the village not far,
Where the prairie is packed with sheep and cows,
There, sat a humble old Shepherd afar,
To whom the boy respectfully greets and bows,
‘Sir, would you want to buy some bread,
Or corn, or vegetables or this healthy poultry?’
‘Sorry, boy, we’re quite wealthy,’ the man said,
‘We already have those quite abundantly,’

‘Unless if you have fishes instead,’
‘You can trade anything for a sardine or snapper,’
The boy replied, ‘What if I can get you that?
But in return, for a month, teach me how to prepare beef dinner,’

Gladly, the Shepherd took the boy in his care,
For a month they the learnt to cook stew, steak, meatloaf and roast.
The boy learnt fast with no time to spare,
He took two cows and two sheep, and went again to the coast.

The boy returned to the coast and met the Fisherman,
Kept his promise, and granted the proud man’s wishes,
‘You’ve impressed me, boy, what do you want in return?’
‘For a month, teach me to cook seafood and prepare fishes’

Finally, the Fisherman took the boy in his care,
For a month they learnt to prepare seafood and fishes.
The boy learnt fast with no time to spare,
Then, went back to the Shepherd to keep his promises.

The ambitious boy, went on his way,
Becoming a corn vendor he still repelled
The boy arrived to a palace courtyard one day
Where a Royal Cooking Competition was being held

Around him were all the greatest chefs and cooks
Skillfully baking, and grilling and stewing,
Using all the ingredients and the lessons he took
The boy cooked a wonderful feast fit for the King
The time is up and the food was ready,
All to be served before the King, so skinny,
Some were too sweet and some were too salty,
Some were tasteless and some were too ordinary.

It was time for the King to taste the boy’s cooking,
Five dishes altogether, served in five servings,
The salad were fresh and the roast was appetizing,
The fish was delicious and the cake was mouth-watering,
The feast was so delicious; he kept eating more.
‘Who is this great cook who cooked this feast?’ the King said
‘I’ve never tasted anything like this before,’
‘It is I, my King, not a great cook but merely a lad,’

The skinny King was impressed; he laughed very loudly,
‘My boy, I’ve never seen a great talent quite like thee.
My people, the winner of this cooking competition is he!’
The crowd of people clapped and cheered happily.

‘From this day onwards, you shall work in my kitchen,
As a Master Cook you shall now be known,
To cook for me bread, vegetables, fishes and chicken,
Take a house in this city and make it your own.’

The ambitious little Corn Boy is now a famous Cook,
Lived in his own house in the big busy city,
Using the knowledge & experience he took,
He lived wealth by cooking feast for Royalties,

The father is now a very proud man,
Both of his son is successful and wealthy,
And every once in while, whenever he can,
The Corn Boy came back to his family,
In house on the cornfield, in the village by the valley.

FIN

Bikin Filim

As I forced myself through the pointless dreariness of yet another rubbish film produced by a Malaysian, I asked myself 'why??????'

Do you think audience are that stupid?

Do you really think we enjoy cheap stunts like suffering mother, dying drug addict brother, love-not-meant-to-be crap, intertwine with tacky Bollywood-like singing scene cliches ?

Please... If it's pointless and crappy, it's pointless and crappy.
And I am talking about the Malay film 'Qabil Khushry, Qabil Igham'. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

First of all, how did I ever get into watching this?
Well, in Malaysia, we are forcefully fed into watching these type of shows on almost every Hari Raya, every cuti and every weekend. Thanks to Astro Ria and RTM 1. When there's nothing interesting is on, we watch crappy shows like Sembilu, Maria Mariana, Cinta Fotokopi and the likes just for laugh and to past the times. We've grown accustomed to this nature. Thus, we seek them to fulfill our past habitual entertainment needs. Here, thanks to Youtube. We get to watch Ali Setan, Cuci, Gila-gila Remaja and many more, including the ever so pointless 'Qabil Khusry, Qabil Igham'. To top it up, the stupidity was not even humorous!

Is it the question of moral?
If it is, why was a good kid, brought up in a good family, being stupid enough to get himself involved with drugs?
If it is, why is the mother being punished for being a good mother?
If it is, what deadly sin that the family had committed to deserve such fate?

There's no moral or ethical issues in question.
Nothing but a bunch of cheap gimmicks and stunts bearing a controversially almost similar name to a successful Bollywood film. Stop making these kind of movies, please.

Words are flowing out...

.....like endless rain into a paper cup, said John and Paul back in the late 60's and it's from the song 'Across the Universe'.

Sharing the same title with this song is ofcourse the somewhat eccentric pointless and an obvious Beatles-zealous movie about two hearts finding their way through love in the late 60s.

As it may not appeal to just anybody, Beatles fan like myself could not help but adore this movie so much as I sing-along to almost all the familiar tunes sang all throughout the movie. 33 Beatles songs altogether. Started with Girl, Helter Skelter, All My Lovin' through I Wanna Hold Your Hand, With A Li'l Help From A Friend, I Am The Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, Hey Jude and all the way to All You Need is Love at the very end. The story line maybe a bit loose, but still a good sing-along session. The story was creatively woven with the song to create these movie, or rather the other way around? Heck, whatever.

Meet Jude, a young lad from Liverpool (ofcourse, where else our Beatle-obsessed-movie-hero could be from) making his way to the US (I'm not particularly sure for what reason).

Meet Lucy, a lost and broken hearted gal.

Long story short, really short; Jude met Lucy, fell in love, went through hell and out, end. Typical.

Notice the names? Jude, Lucy... they also have Sadie, Jojo and Prudence. I'm suprised they didn't have Loretta Martin, Michelle, Sergeant Pepper and Billy Shears!

Again, a very-very loose and simple storyline. The best west-end-like rendition of With A Little Help From My Friends ever. At some point the kaleidoscopic visual incorprated in the film really depicts the feel and soul of the Beatles' songs in the late 60s. Great sing-along session. It's not at all that bad. Hey, if a story starts with a line like 'Is there anybody going to listen to my story?' can't be that bad. I remembered Mr. Snicket did something alike, turns out to be a bomb.