kennysia.com English – Benglish Translator

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Enter website address to translate:
http://

I was happily writing my Ah Beng entry last Saturday when suddenly I sensed something was amiss.
Notice how on the Internet, we have these English – Spanish translators, English – Chinese translators, etc. Heck, we even have an English – Gangsta Talk translator. But has anyone ever noticed that we do not yet have an English – Benglish translator.

Think about it! We have literally tens and thousands of technology graduates in Malaysia and Singapore working their asses off each day for giant corporations like Motorola. And for what? Does it benefit our own people? NO.
On the other hand, we have all these Ah Bengs and Ah Lians on our streets. They rather drive their modified Kancils with boom-boom sound instead of surfing the Internet reading blogs. Why, my friend, its because they feel neglected! Neglected by society! Neglected by school! Neglected by all these proper English-speaking people! We only care for ourselves. But what about them?
GODDAMMIT WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE AH BENGS?!?!

The English we use on the Internet all so cheem-cheem one, how do you expect those Ah Bengs to understand? Can you imagine an Ah Beng surfing the Internet or not?
“EH! Wat all this lan jiao Googur chee bye Brogspot!? I DONCH KNOW ONE LEH!”
Poor Ah Bengs. 🙁 I’m sure they all feel very left out.
And that is why over the weekend, I flexed my programming muscles and came up with this English – Benglish Translator. Its just something I quickly put together in my spare time, and there’s only around 100 words in the dictionary right now, so its not gonna perfect. Any suggestions, let me know.

Enter website address to translate:
http://

Recommended readings:
Project Petaling Street in Benglish
Tomorrow.sg in Benglish
XiaXue in Benglish
Minishorts in Benglish
Joel Tan in Benglish
Mack Zul in Benglish
Cowboy Caleb in Benglish
Finicky Feline in Benglish
Vincent Lau in Benglish
If you’ve found any funny Benglish-translated sites worth visiting, comment and share lah!

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I Wonder What They’re Suggesting

The Urban Wire is Singapore Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s online newsmagazine.
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Photo from luvphobia.blogspot.com
I was interviewed by them during the blogger convention and they’ve published their story here. Do check it out. There’s a very horrijible photo of me over there.
Speaking of which, can someone be kind enough send me a scan of my interview in KLue magazine? I’ll be eternally grateful. 🙂
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Spotted outside a shop at the Crown Square shopping centre.

Any girls out there like to try some of these… pussie accessories?
Anyone?

Writing An Ah Beng Blog

I noticed lately there’s been an explosion of blogs written by Ah Bengs within the Malaysian and Singaporean blogospheres.

In Malaysia, we have this Cantonese blog and that Hokkien ‘bollock’. I have to say, the Hokkien blog impresses me even until today. Limpeh still find it quite amazing how that Hokkien Lang is able to spell all these bloody Hokkien words using English. Even his readers also comment in Hokkien instead of English! Waliew!
Hokkien Blog

Then over in Singapore, those Ah Beng and Ah Lian bloggers lagi more power. From Apple Lim to BlinkyMummy to Big Fuck Rambo Tan, to Rockson Takumi Tan’s Talk Rock which spawned imitators like the now defunct Emilio Jackson Tan and the Ranting Rock.

These are all very popular blogs and I admit its guilty pleasure reading them from time to time. I realised that suddenly Bengism is not just a subculture others would look down on, because when you can cuss with style and write words like “KNNBCCB that NKF, TT and CPF!” dammit YOU ARE COOL OK!?

Seeing as how being an Ah Beng is cool once again, I decided to try my hand, and write the rest of my entry in Benglish – ie, in broken English, heavily applying swear words, and excessive use of the word ‘ok!?’

KNNBCCB!!!!

All these news about Rafidah Aziz I read until my coconuts also turn from green to red liaw. That bloody Rafidah gave out 67,000 car import permits, 28,000 of those to just FOUR of her Bumi friends. KNN your friends all drive Jaguar and we’re still fucked by Kancils. Not fair ok!?

Actually hor, I got no problems if she gives those free permits to the Bumis lah. Otherwise they won’t be in the sell car business one. Long long time ago all these Malays sell sell satay and rendang, now sell BM and Honda. Good lah!

But fuck, wanna give permit also have to see who you give it to ok? Some ppl got no caryard you also give, no showroom you also give, no office with chiobu secretary in miniskirts you also give. Give them AP for fuck?! Where you think they gonna store their cars?! Inside their kacheng kang issit?! KNN damn kuay lan ok?!

How come they look so alike one?

Those import permits might be a piece of A4 paper to you but is worth a lot to us. One piece of paper you give for free to your Bumi friends with no car yard. You think they go take the paper and sell car one is it? Cheebye lah you kena conned. They not in the sell car business, they in the sell paper business ok!? Those paper they sell it to all their non-Bumi friends ok!? Not 50 sen not RM1, but RM40,000 for ONE PIECE of lan jiao fucking paper ok?!? CCB my ten year salary also not that much ok!?

See lah now you anger Mahathir already. Mahathir you also dare to anger. LIMPEH MAHATHIR IS PROTON ADVISOR OK! He no like imported cars one ok! He the biggest most powerfullest person in Malaysia ok?! Even me, Kenny Pukima Sia, also scared of him one ok!? Last time Anwar so nice carried his balls, then when he try to fuck with Mahathir see what happened… Mahathir fuck him back deep deep now and Anwar have to pang sai like waterfall!

Mahathir: “You’ve been a bad girl Rafidah…”

Ah then Mahathir scold you and then you cry. And now you say what want to abolish AP! KNNCCB!!!! Already give out 67,000 permits still dare to say want to abolish AP!!! NABEH ten years ago can abolish you don’t wanna abolish. Now give out all these free permits and make all your friends rich rich liaw then say you want to abolish!!! KANINA RAFIDAH!!!

Your cheebye talk so much crap! No wonder they complain the air in KL smell like shit!

Fuck your motherfucking permits lah!!!

Longer Than One Singapore Minute

As part of his contribution to the Singaporean National Day, patriotic mr brown started this meme called “One Singapore Minute”.
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He’s asking his fellow countrymen to take a series of photos within a minute to show what their country means to them. All the photos are then collected and displayed here.
Since our National Day is also just around the corner, I wanted to start a “One Malaysian Minute” meme too. But thanks to the haze, I think all the photos from our KL bloggers are gonna turn like this.

Regardless, I contributed towards the “One Singapore Minute” meme. I know I’m not Singaporean and all that lah. Then again, Singapore’s LianHeZaoBao newspaper also said I’m Singaporean liaw, so I think I must be one.

From zbNow (LianHeZaoBao), 4th July 2005.

Here’s my photo set, taken at the New Asia Bar on the 70th floor of the Swissotel Stamford from my last trip to the city state. I have to confess – these shots were not taken under one minute. It should have been that way, but that tulan bartender took ten bloody minutes just to get my drink ready. My One Singapore Minute became my Ten Delayed Minutes.
kennysia's OSM #1
kennysia's OSM #2
kennysia's OSM #3
kennysia's OSM #4
Singapore Sling on top of Singapore City itself. Doesn’t get any more Singaporean than that. 🙂
Speaking of the lion city, what’s with almost every Singaporean I know heading over to Kuala Lumpur these few days? Why go KL? Got haze lah, go KL do shit? Come to Kuching lah.

The haze situation in KL is getting so bad even the garblement is declaring a state of emergency. The problem is, other than closing down all their offices, nobody seems to know what else to do under a state of emergency. The only thing the people there were told to do is this.
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Everyone is waiting for the thick white smoke blanketing the nation’s capital to clear up and disappear. So the garblement and residents in KL are all praying for a miracle, praying for the wind, praying for the heavy rain to fall…

KANINA IT RAINED ICE INSTEAD! They must have prayed a little too hard liaw. Poor bastards.
Times like these, it feels so darn good to live in Kuching.

Blue skies, fresh air. Ahhh… bliss. 🙂

Toni & Guy Hairdressing Review

This is a very old entry from my trip to KL once upon a time in a land far, far away.

Toni&Guy is a London-based hairdressing chain with salons scattered all over the world. Their Malaysian franchise is located on the second floor of the hip-n-chic Lot 10 shopping center, right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s famous Bukit Bintang shopping district.

I was about to meet a whole bunch of strangers at the PPS 2nd Anniversary Bash later that day and I desperately needed a haircut. There’s gonna be girls and media presence at the event, so a man’s gotta look his best ya know?

Toni&Guy’s interior design is modern-looking but it isn’t particularly glamourous. The floor space is kinda small. There’s probably around 6-7 seats available, but only 2 actual hairstylists were working. On display at the shopfront are various products from TIGI Bedhead and L’Oreal. Because they’re worth it. 🙂

I was quoted a price of RM60 – RM120 for a regular stylist, and RM160 – RM220 for a senior stylist. But since no regular stylists are available I was able to get a senior stylist to do my hair for the price of a regular one.
Here’s a shot of me before my haircut.

I entered the shop around 6:30pm. I was told a typical hair-cut-and-wash usually takes around 45 minutes, so by my estimation I should have enough time to travel from Bukit Bintang to Dataran Mederka to attend the PPS Bash at 7:30pm.
The seat was made of faux leather so its nice and comfy albeit a little warm. I was offered a choice of drinks and I asked for iced-water.

It didn’t take long for one of their junior hairstylists to lead me to the back for some shampoo and massage action. I was secretly hoping its a girl who’s gonna do that for me, but kanasai lah – its a guy. I wanted to request for a girl, but even the girl looks like a guy.
In the end, no difference also lah. I accepted my fate loh.

I rate massages at hair salons into three grades.
(A) “Good.”
(B) “Average.”
(C) “Oi, your first day at work ah?!”
For a premium hair salon, its unfortunate I have to rate Toni&Guy a ‘C’ in the massage department. The massage was a total joke.

He started yawning after he finished with me.

It was weak, unenergetic and ended way too prematurely. Perhaps its because I’m used to ones lasting more than 20 minutes. But man, I say that guy probably lasted 5 minutes max. It felt as if the only reason he went at me was because its his job, not because he really wanted to do it. The whole thing is a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am affair. I wasn’t even properly satisfied. I was so disappointed I couldn’t have more.
Yes, I’m still talking about the head massage lah!

This is my senior hair-stylist for the day, Tosha Tan. This is actually the first time I hear the name Tosha (sounds like short for ‘Toshiba’). The guy who did my hair at Alan Salon was called McPhee.
What is it with hairstylists and unusual English names? Whatever happened to John, or Michael?
Anyway, I was asked how I’d like to have my hair done. I wanted him to come up with a suitable hairstyle for me so I answered “Do whatever you want. Be creative.”

I just hope Tosha don’t shave my head and put tattoo on it.

Tosha was servicing another patron in the salon at the same time, so he had to switch between my head and her head every now and then.
Overall, I think Tosha came across as someone who knows his shit right down to its texture and colour. He is very patient and he definitely has an eye for detail. My only small complaint is that he’s… just…. way…. too….. slllooooowwwwwwww.

I was already late for the PPS Bash, but the guy was only halfway done. I didn’t want to rush him of course. Remember, rushing your hairstylist is always a bad idea.

The junior hairstylist emerged again to lead me to the back for another round of shampoo and a half-arsed massage.
Look at his face you also know he wasn’t too happy about having to perform twice in one night. Poor dude.

Tosha finished the job by applying clay on my head for that spiky matte effect. He used L’Oreal A-Head Clay, which costs around RM50 for a small 50ml tub. Expensive stuff right there.
It feels good to see my hair standing proud and erect. Too bad it goes limp very quickly everytime I sweat underneath this hot and humid Malaysian weather.

I left Toni&Guy VERY late for my appointment, TOTALLY unsatisified with the massage, and a MASSIVE RM100 poorer. That was definitely the most expensive haircut I’ve ever had in my entire life, but I think its worth it. After all, I did leave with a head I can be proud of.
Its expensive, but I actually like this hairdo a lot better than the one I had at Alan Salon. Maybe I’m just not a fringe person.

So what do you think? (My hair lah, not FireAngel, ok? I know she’s so bloody hot and everybody wants her, but too bad I cannot link her. I accept bribes though.)

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Joystick

dine david
Dine and David came back to Kuching all the way from Perth earlier this week. We met up for dinner just then and I cannot help but to be reminded of how much I miss Perth – the weather, the lifestyle, and most importantly the friends I have over there.

Kenny: “Hey you got a new phone! Same as mine.”
David: “Yep. Sony Ericsson K700.”
Kenny: “I got a lot of problems with my phone.”
David: “Like what?”
Kenny: “My joystick isn’t functioning.”
David: “Huh? Your… JOYSTICK isn’t functioning?”
Kenny: “Yeah.”
David: “…!”
Kenny: “NOT THAT JOYSTICK LAH!”

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Questions Answered

My desktop, before the Blogathon.

I’m proud of what we accomplished.
I’ve sold stickers for the Red Cross Foundation before. I’ve ran in 12km races for charity before. But until Sunday, I have NEVER EVER, in just one single night, raised over RM5,000 before in my life. Not bad, considering my previous fundraising record was merely RM75.

StarMag (The Star), page 12-13, 7th August 2005.

It all worked out pretty well. My entry on Datuknametoolongitis was picked up by the editor of StarMag (an insert of The Star, Malaysia’s most popular national daily), and it was published Sunday morning with my site address on it. Anyone who came to my site after reading that article would no doubt find out about our fundraising efforts.
Its bloody fantastic knowing what I started initially as a hobby turned into a difference-maker for the lives of less fortunates. To Suanie, Peter, Paul, ShaolinTiger and minishorts, I found new respect for you guys. And to those who have donated or helped in the promotion of our cause in any way, thank you – you have my sincerest gratitude.

My desktop, after the Blogathon.

At the end of my four hours, my fingers had already melted like butter and I still had not answer all the questions that were fired at me. When I went to the toilet, I couldn’t even take my dick out of my pants without typing on it like a keyboard.
kennysia.com readers asked the darnest questions. For those who missed it, here are some of the highlights from the “Ask Kenny Anything” stunt.
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From Anthony Lim:
If you woke up one day and found that Kolo Mee did not exist, what would you do?

Mmmmmm… Kuching Kolo Mee!

Go back to sleep and pretend Kolo Mee exists in my dreams. That’s what I used to do in Perth. That prorbably explains why I was always late for class.

From Johnny Bravo and PokerfaceXX:
Btw.. Do you have a Full Time Job? 🙂
Yes of course. What, you think I blog all day long ah? I work in the IT Department of my company. My role is mainly to source, evaluate, procure, and implement IT products.

From Curtis G (aka Su Ku Kia):
Do you have plans to [go to the United States]? Which one(s)?

New York City ranks alongside Tokyo, Japan and Paris, Hilton as top three places in the world I’d want to visit before I die. At the moment, I don’t think I can afford to go to any of these locations though.
One thing that’s still on my not-so-distant to-do list is to spend a year working in the UK casually, travelling and backpacking around Europe before settling down on my professional work life.

From Nadia:
How good are you at cooking? What is your specialty/signature dish??
I suck at cooking. I only cook when I was in Perth. Never in Malaysia – food here is too cheap to justify me lifting my finger. My specialty dish is grilled chicken breast with grilled mushrooms using my George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine.

I’m trying to convince my boyfriend to wear a pale pink shirt (I think it’d go well with his skin tone) but no matter what I say or do, he insists that it’s a sissy colour or that it will be a fashion mistake he will regret. What do you think about guys who wear pink?
The only reason I would wear pink is if the girls like it. Its true most guys think its a sissy colour. But hey, if girls wear bikini for guys to see, I think its only fair that guys wear pink shirts for girls to see.

From Kat:
Do you have a private blog, or sometimes feel the need to have one? Because you obviously can’t put some stuff in this blog, but you need to get it out of your system.
No I don’t. Maintaining one single website is difficult enough for me.

From n305er :
What is your Computer’s specification and how does it looks like?

My baby here is a Pentium 4 2.8GHz running on MSI 865PE Neo2 series and 1GB worth of DDR2100 RAM. Video powered by GeCube Radeon 9600Pro. Sound powered by Creative Soundblaster Audigy DE. Its all nicely enclosed in my sweet Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case. My keyboard is a Logitech LX700 and my mouse is a Logitech MX1000 Laser Mouse – both wireless. I have 4 hard drives with a grand total of 440GB worth of disk space. My 120GB Seagate hard disk went bonkers on me two weeks ago. There’s still thousands of photos in that hard disk that I’m trying to retrieve… to no avail. 🙁
I scratched my 17″ Samsung SyncMaster 710T (with digital input) 2 weeks after I bought it. I have a Creative Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 speaker set. Yes, I’m a major sucker for the word ‘Digital’.

From 12345:
do u play any computer games?

Nowadays its mostly just a random game on my XBox or PS2 every now and then. I used to play Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour online a lot, but not anymore. I got pwned one too many times.
Malaysian broadband sucks kancil’s ass.

From grace:
Where and how did you pick up your sense of humour?

My main sources of inspiration are Perth radio hosts Luke Bolland and Nathan Morris. I also read a lot of FHM, Maxim and Ralph magazines. Reading other funny blogs on the web helps too. 🙂

From TT (not Durai):
Are you more of a good or bad guy in nature? (pls elaborate)
I think (I hope) I’m more of a Mr Nice Guy. I’m approachable most of the time and I treat people the way they treat me – be my friend and I’ll be yours. Once in a while I can be a deliberate asshole deliberately and hurt people’s feelings, but I doubt I do that often enough to be called a Mr Bad Guy. 🙂

Doesn’t it bother you that you already have a girlfriend but still seen “flirting” around with other gals? (because that’s the image that you portray)
I can tell you this: It sucks being in a perpetual long-distance relationship with zero-to-no-chance of being physically together anytime soon. It really does.
Regardless, I don’t think I was being unfaithful when my partner and I have an understanding on this particular issue. I wrote before that our possessive grips on each other is not as tight as your traditional boy-girl relationships. Its precisely because we’re young and the fact that we used to be SO possessive of each other that now, we agreed to give each other a little bit more space to meet more people of the opposite sex that we like. In other words, she can go out with any guy she likes, I can go out with any girl I like. We still talk on the phone every so often.
I find it funny that its NOT my gf who have a beef with my behaviour, but rather the other ppl who’ve seen photos of me so-called “flirting” that were upset at me.


From desperate addict and Kuzco:
When’s your birthday?
27th November 1982.

From NJAPF:
Are girls with traditional moral beliefs boring – don’t smoke, sleep around, drink/club, dress sexily… ?
It depends on the individual’s taste. Personally I’m ok with those habits you mentioned except for one. In a serious relationship, I will never date a girl who smokes. Period. I simply find it a huge turn off.
I don’t think girls with those habits have anything to do with whether a girl is interesting or boring. Its all about the bond or chemistry you share with that person.

Attica Too, Singapore

But I think most guys are hypocritical when it comes to this. Most guys will EASILY be attracted to girls who dress sexily and all, but as soon as they start a serious relationship with them, the guys would want their girls to “cover up” and miraculously transform back into a virgin.

From psiops:
if you could date any of the female bloggers you know, who would it be?
Tough question. NEXT!
XiaXue. (kns, I kena forced to say her name.)
This is bloody tough question OK! I think and think and think and concluded that there are so many great girls out there, and I really don’t feel like answering that question because no matter who I said the response surely will be “HAR!? WHY HER!? OMG KENNY YOU GOT SUCH A BAD TASTE!”
But hey, the keyword here is IF – ie, in a fantasy situation.

I’ve heard a fair share of people who said I look “compatible” with Xiaxue. I’ve also heard a MORE THAN fair share of people who puked last night’s dinner at the thought of me and her together.
Look, Wendy is a great girl and all and I do like girls who are strong-willed, independent and have a compatible sense of humour as I do. Wendy is all that, and honestly I’d love to date her.

“D-cup breasts, round bottom, a 50-cm slim waist and weight under 45 kilograms. Wherever I go, I soon become the focus of the crowd!”

But I’d rather date her instead.
(Siao lah. Of course I’m not shallow enough to think a woman’s figure is the most important thing.)

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Today, I Am A Saint

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The Borneo Post, page 4, on the 4th August 2005.
I just had a look at how much money we’ve raised so far and its only USD$550. Thanks to all the nice people here who have pledged their donation.
But frankly speaking I think that amount is pathetic. Between the six of us participants, we get about 10,000 daily visitors to our sites combined. If each of these visitors were to donate USD1, just USD1 (that’s RM3.70, the price of one plate of chicken rice), the volunteers at the Hospite-At-Home program would have enough funds to help the unfortunate for the next 5 years.
Anyway, the Blogathon for charity is in progress till 9pm today. Please head over to BloggersAreMorons.com. You can help keep us awake by telling us a joke or two, or something.

Ask Me Anything

kennysia.com was taken offline for about 4 hours Thursday night.

Hi,
We’ve had to block web access to your site due to high loads. Your site had over 900 connections simultaneously and was preventing other sites from functioning. Do you know why your site would get so much activity today?
If you have any further questions or experience any problems, please let us know. Thank you.
Regards,
xxx Thapa
System Engineer
Site5 Internet Solutions, Inc.

Thank you smart arse. The problem I’m experiencing is this – my website is down, and my question is – when will it be back up?
900+ actual people visiting my site at the same time? Impossible.
Maybe the whole of China decided to check out kennysia.com at the same time after hearing what I wrote about their beloved Furong Jiejie.
Or, maybe its the sealions who protested and launched a simultaneous attack on kennysia.com after I compared them to Furong Jiejie AND my readers continued to mistake them for walruses.
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Today is Blogathon day. There will be no updates on kennysia.com because I’ll be updating over at BloggersAreMorons.com.
Now here’s the deal. The six of us will be taking turns updating the site for 24 hours straight. I’m doing the graveyard shift.
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Saturday night when everyone is out pubbing, I’ll be at home blogging.

I’ll be online from 1am to 5am, posting one entry every 30 minutes, blogging non-stop for 4 hours straight, all in the name of charity.
But here’s the problem: I have absolutely no freakin’ idea what to write AT ALL.
I know its for charity, but blogging continuously for 4 hours is crazy man. Its impossible to blog non-stop for 4 hours, its impossible to eat non-stop for 4 hours, its impossible to fuck non-stop for 4 hours. What the heck is there to write? I can’t even write ‘coconuts’ for 4 hours straight!
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I’d rather watch them dance for 4 hours

So here’s what I’ll do. I’ve seen others did this before and it looks fun, so I’m copying the idea.
Ask me anything.
Here’s your chance to ask me absolutely anything you’d like to know about me, or anything else not related to me.
You can ask me about me, like “What’s your name?” (Kenny)
You can ask me about blogging. “Why do you blog?” (For the love of coconuts)
You can ask me about your relationship problems. “I like my bf a lot but he’s got a wife in Malaysia, a gf in Singapore, a mistress in Hong Kong, a sugarbaby in Africa, a gay partner in Holland, and he goes to Thailand 5 times a week. So how?” (Dump him)
You can ask me about my habits. “What’s your favourite position in bed?” (Lying on my back with the pillow underneath my head and the duvet covered all the way up to my neck.)
You can even ask me about your homework. “What is x + 1 integrated over 0 to 2?” (4)
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Hopefully I’ll have enough content to last 8 posts in 4 hours until the sunrise.

Feel free to post your questions on my comment box or on the tag-board. So long as I see it I’ll answer it. Just to be fair, try to keep it reasonably clean (questions like “How long is your dickonosaurus?” will not be entertained) and stay within a maximum of three questions per person alright?
So ask me anything.
I’ll TRY to answer everything and put them the answers on BloggersAreMorons.com from 1am tonight. I might not have answers for all, I might even choose not to answer some (if I find it offensive or too personal). But at least you might find out a thing or two about me that you might not know, and who knows? I might even find out something about myself that I never realise. 🙂
Go ahead. Shoot me.

Shal Sagan

Shal Sagan is an independent music artist homegrown in Kuching, Sarawak.

I wrote about meeting her and her mate Brandon Juan at the Rainforest World Music Festival some time ago when JoyceTheFairy was in town. Prior to this I have heard of her though I never had the chance to listen to her music. Coincidentally, I bumped into them again at Bing the Coffee House last week. Brandon invited me to come to her gig on Sunday, so I figured why not.

For a 22-year-old, this fair-skinned beauty sure has accomplished a lot for herself. Shal Sagan has got some serious talent and I mean that in every sense of the word.
Get this – Shal doesn’t just sing. She wrote all her songs, composed all her songs, plays lead guitar, co-produced them, and on top of all that, started her own record label Shzogawa Records to distribute her music. And she did all these when she was just 21 years old.
When I was 21, I was still sitting in front of my computer play The Sims.

The gig was held at Somerset Gateway as part of a charity carnival. The bands performing that day were great but too bad the event was poorly organised. For some silly reason the organisers put the stage right in front of entrance to the condomnium, which means every now and then you get residents walking behind the performers to get to their suite, as you’ll see in the video clips later. Its very annoying.

It’s then Shal Sagan’s turn to go up there and do her thing as I readied my digital cameras and did my thing.
Halfway through her performance, I encountered a Freaky Fan Incident. Yes, I encountered it, not her.

A middle-aged man in his 40s or so (shown in this picture here) emerged from inside the building, walked past the stage and handed me a small folded note.

I looked at him quizzically and he smiled at me before walking away.
Now I don’t know if he’s the one reading my blog, or if he’s just playing messenger and passed me the note from someone else. But, guys! If you do happen to bump into me, there are less freaky ways to let me know you’re kennysia.com reader you know? Like, for example, “Hi Kenny, I read your blog. Nice to meet you!”

That guitarist bears an uncanny resemblance to Linus Chung from the movie Sepet.

Anyway, back to Shal Sagan.
Shal and band performed 4 songs from her debut album. They opened with Death’s Fatal Kiss and finished with a Green Day/Good Charlotte-inspired Newsflash, both of them uptempo rock tracks. In between, she sang a slow alternative track Message in a Bottle (think Smashing Pumpkins) and ballad track Just Fine, my favourite song from her album.

“These chicks don’t even know the name of my band… But they’re all on me like they wanna hold hands…”

Shal Sagan sounds a lot better live than my camera can apperciate, but here are the videos anyway (in MOV format, Quicktime Player required).
Death’s Fatal Kiss video
Just Fine video
Message in a Bottle video
Newsflash video
Samples of her songs can be downloaded from CD Baby. Pay attention and reflect on the lyrics as they are often the best parts to her songs.

Shal Sagan, Kuching’s Rock Princess and Kenny Sia, Kuching’s Rock.

Shal Sagan was nice enough to give me a copy of her CD. To show her my appreciation, I created for her a music video of her song ‘Just Fine’. Try to spot my Freaky Fan in there.
Download music video of Just Fine, crappily produced by kennysia.com
Low Res (17MB, WMV)
Hi Res (33MB, WMV)
Hi Res (alternate link) (33MB, WMV)
If you like what you hear, you can purchase her album from Tower Records if you’re in Malaysia, buy online through CD Baby, or just e-mail Shzogawa Records directly at orders@shalsagan.net.
Support our local indie music industry. 🙂

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