Arbeit Macht Frei. Ok, I just watched The Counterfeiter and was a bit taken away by the drama. This is not just any drama with a backdrop of a concentration camp. Just in case you missed the my previous post of the same movie.
Synopsis
The true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire and bohemian. After getting arrested in a German concentration camp in 1944, he agrees to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeit operation set up to help finance the war effort.
It was the biggest counterfeit money scam of all times. Over 130 million pound sterling were printed, under conditions that couldn’t have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the war, as the German Reich saw that the end was near, the authorities decided to produce their own banknotes in the currencies of their major war enemies. They hoped to use the duds to flood the enemy economy and fill the empty war coffers. At the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, two barracks were separated from the rest of the camp and the outside world, and transformed into a fully equipped counterfeiters workshop. ‘Operation Bernhard’ was born. Prisoners were brought to Sachsenhausen from other camps to implement the plan: professional printers, fastidious bank officials and simple craftsmen all became members of the top-secret counterfeiter commando. They had the choice: if they cooperated with the enemy, they had a chance to survive, as first-class prisoners in a ‘golden cage’ with enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. If they sabotaged the operation, a sure death awaited them. For THE COUNTERFEITERS, it was not only a question of saving their own lives, but also about saving their conscience as well…
The most touching part of this story is when the Nazis fled and the concentration camp was taken over by the other unfortunate Jew inmates. The counterfeiters professional group lived in luxury and were separated from the rest of the camp. Of course they always heard of killings and cries on the other side of the wall but they felt luckier and rather blast the gramophone. When the wall separating them collapsed and the other jews went amok and saw these counterfeiters in good clean clothes, well fed, and playing ping-pong….. they couldn’t believe they are also imprisoned there and wanted to shoot them because they don’t look like the rest of them (skinny, malnourished, dirty). Thats when the counterfeiters showed them the serial numbers tattooed to their hands and the amok fellas started to believe. Then the counterfeiters showed them their barracks, their working place, their purpose and why are they given special treatment by the SS and I was so touched when the malnourished guys sat on the double-decker beds with soft clean and comfortable mattress and pillows and cried.
Man, you gotta watch this. Just don’t expect battlefield shooting spree.
Ordinary window glass, like you have around the house, is pretty amazing stuff. It’s clear, strong and cheap. But it’s also brittle, shattering into long, dangerous, wickedly sharp shards when overstressed. Plastics would be as strong, but not nearly hard enough to resist scratching and remain clear enough for a car window–just look at any plastic-glazed outdoor bus stop or phone booth, with its patina of fine scratches. For the side windows of cars, automakers have come up with a good compromise: tempered glass. It’s stronger than standard, but more importantly, when it does shatter it breaks up into small granules. These granules are still sharp, but should do less damage than the long shards of untempered glass. However, for a windshield, constantly bombarded by pebbles, tempered glass would have a short life span.
So, many years back, the car manufacturers switched to a laminated glass sandwich for the windshield. It’s a simple process. Two thinner sheets of glass are fused to a rubber inner layer. The tempered-glass outer layers are then independent of each other. The rubbery center sheet provides damping to any shock waves from errant stones, reducing the probability of breakage. And if the glass is hit by an object smartly enough, odds are that only the outer sheet will break, as is the case with most stone chips. If a really big piece of debris hits the glass hard enough to break both inner and outer layers, the tough membrane prevents it from winding up in your lap. Even better, the shards of glass from the inner lamination wind up stuck to the membrane, keeping them from spalling away from the windshield at a high velocity, causing great havoc. You can repair your windshield though.
I often heard people telling me that they have lost their crucial data that was stored in the hard disk after they accidentally deleted the files. Well, I don’t want to experience this but sometime accident just happens. So, how are we gonna recover our important data such as our doctorate thesis for instance which is stored in the computer hard disk. Many people do not have the habit of doing backup hence there’s no contingency plan should a hard disk fail or just accidentally deleted the files or directories.
In order to Recover Deleted Files, it is wise to leave it to the professional such as Flashback Data and NOT to try it at home. Flashback Data has advanced recovery techniques that allow them to repair and recover your critical data from any type of computers, operating systems and filesystems. Whether you need to recover deleted files or have suffered from a computer virus, they just has a solution for you.
Took the monorail to go to class this evening and as usual, it was the rush hour. Time was like about 5.45pm and there’s quite a lot of people squeezing in and out of the monorail train. Ok, BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS IN THE MONORAIL TRAIN. You’ll see a lot of malay or indonesian guys standing near the train door, and you must beware. They are pickpockets.
Its easy to differentiate a malicious person…. ok… I know if someone is up to no good. I’m very alert when these natakaran or mat rempit-like people come near me as I was a victim of mat rempit snatch thieve sometime ago. They normally wear tshirts and quite smelly. They don’t seem to need to work hence they wear smelly casual outfits- tshirt, jeans etc. They normally operate in a group of 2-3 people so that they can disperse off easily.
There’s this guy standing right behind me and luckily I was holding my book and jacket. My hands were on both side touching my wallet with my one hand and handphone with another hand. Then suddenly a hand wander to my pocket and trying to force into my pocket. Instantly I know it was a pickpocket in operation. I looked at the guy and he pretended to look out of the window. My hand kept pressing my pocket and my book helped a bit to block the probing hand. Then I looked stared at the guy and again he pretended and looked out of the window. At the next station, he quickly left knowing his operation foiled by me.
Now… I regret for not punching him or at least alert all the other commuters. The train was packed and there were many ladies around. Now, maybe i should have a blade or something sharp handy so that I can teach these fellas a lesson.
Advice for guys: Always keep your hands in your pocket and safeguard your valuables in pockets- handphone, wallet etc. The front pockets of your trousers are easy target. Don’t talk on phone and get distracted. Be sensitive on all body contacts.
Advice for ladies: Keep everything precious in your handbag and keep your bag in front of your chest. Again, don’t talk on the phone and be sensitive on all body contacts.
Ever thought of assembling your own PC and save some bucks along the way? It doesn’t matter if you are building a PC for hardcore gaming, serious business or even the most basic computer for the kids, you can be sure of saving a lot from assembling it your own. Do it yourself.
Often people ask me How to Build a Computer and I don’t want to repeat myself everytime so would introduce everyone of you, EasyAsMyPC.com . You can tailor the computer hardwares to suit your requirement and budget and buy it online. They are selling you the kit, I mean the hardwares and you can assemble it yourself. So, you save on labour work to assemble the PC which can be quite pricey. Besides that, you can learn how to do it and should any hardware goes faulty and need replacement, you already know how to fix it.
They include plain English instructions with lots of illustrations. You can also get upgrade kits to increase your ram or replace your CPU. All you need is a screwdriver and they can help you save about $100.00 .
LA Times reports that Germany has barred the makers of “Valkyrie,” about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler, from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. Cruise, also one of the film’s producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.
The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase. Defence Ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer said the film makers “will not be allowed to film at German military sites if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult.”
“In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg’s person,” Kammerbauer said.
Stauffenberg had been deeply opposed to the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews and planted a briefcase bomb under a table near Hitler in his “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters on July 20, 1944. The bomb went off but only wounded the Fuehrer.
Plot Summary: The thriller is based on actual events, as German generals hatch a scheme to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the height of WWII.
The film, slated for a 2008 release and to be directed by Bryan Singer and co-starring Kenneth Branagh, is called “Valkyrie” after Operation Valkyrie, the plot’s codename.
The main site of interest would be the “Bendlerblock” memorial inside the Defence Ministry complex in Berlin. This is where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators hatched the plot and where he and his closest comrades were executed when it failed.
Was at a workshop in Senawang the other day and saw this chinese deity, Ti Kung (latokong or whatever you call it), with an islam name….. Dato Haji Hassan. Yeah…… this is a free country and everyone can embrace any legal religion. By the way, is it wrong or disrespect to take picture of these deities?
Shopping can be a very daunting task especially when you need to compare prices of a few merchants to get the best deal. It will be time wasting if the merchants are located away from each others and you have to drive around and look for parking.
Now you can do it all in the comfort of your home. The website, Shopping.com has a very comprehensive catalogue of products from home appliances to perfume and lingeries to video games. They list the prices of all the participating merchants for a particular product and you can compare the prices. It also allows you to buy it right away… online. How easy is that?!
Man, you just gotta check it out. I find that their wine directory is very useful to learn about wine, the jargons, and types of wine. You compare prices for almost everything you need in your day to day life at Shopping.com.
Ok… hi everyone. Its hard to post nowadays as work has been a bit shitty. Tension ler. Everything they want fast, and you have to run up and down and business come truckload and the bosses are laughing BUT the workers are all stressed up. We only have a pair of hands. We gotta drive in KL traffic. We don’t just sit in office. Sometimes it is not wise to waste hours in traffic jam to go back to office to do work. Now Merimen is giving some problem.
I don’t know. Recently in class, the teacher said something very worth pondering. Its about business, economic and demographic. This may be piece of cake to some of you.
You see, our Malaysian public transportation system is screwed up. Everyone drives a car to work. Everyone fill up their fuel tank. Then everyone stuck in jams and use up a lot of fuel. Government couldn’t afford to subsidise anymore hence the raise in fuel price. I wonder if we are consuming more fuel than we produce. Sometime it is really shitty, why we can’t be like the Arabs? They have oil, we also have oil. They are filthy rich. We? What about just having 20% of their wealth. Yet again, SOV is still problem to date.
I also heard of that the younger generation in some developed country (ok fine, we are not developed yet) are not keen in buying cars. They just don’t want to buy a car and don’t see a reason in buying a car. Well, that only if their public transport is good. Then they can spend money in buying the latest gadgets which I think is better than buying cars. A car is just a car.
Traffic jam is wasting time and the time could well be used to make money. If everyone in KL stuck in a tiring jam for 2 hours daily…. you can do the maths. Now I know why for instance, Singapore is rich. They have a good public transport system and not so fuel consuming as compared to our country. But then…. if our public transport is upgraded up to par with Singapore’s…. then Proton and Perodua will see a huge drop in sales if not go out of business?? Our country is just consuming too much fuel. And do you know how much is the parking fees in KL lately?
The recent storm and earthquakes in Myanmar and China respectively have devastated the lives of many people who survived it. Many are dead and still counting. Lets do our part in helping these people a bit.
Send your donation to help the relief work. Alternatively you can also check out with other channels to make your donation.
Here you can print out this form and ask someone who knows Chinese to help you to fill up the form. Receipts will be issued for tax exemption.
PETALING JAYA: Check your RM100 and RM50 notes, folks! Hold each note up to the light and if you can’t see the first King’s watermark portrait, it’s a fake.
Fruit vendor Loh Man, 53, discovered three days after a couple bought RM15 worth of fruits at his stall in Old Klang Road that the RM100 note they used to buy the fruits with was counterfeit.
Loh Man realised something was amiss when the colour on the note started to fade and the watermark of the King was missing when the note was held up to the light.
He sought the help of MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong who said this was the first RM100 fake note he had come across. He said he had been previously alerted of RM50 fake notes.
“Just hold the notes up to the light and check,” he advised the public at a press conference.
“The watermark portrait can be seen easily. At the base of the watermark, the numeral 100 is clearly visible in a real note but absent in counterfeit ones,” he said, adding that fake notes were also deeper in colour.
To demonstrate how easy it was to pass off the RM100 fake note as the real thing, Chong and a few reporters tested them out on merchants, who thought the notes to be real.
“I am very surprised that I managed to get through five merchants without being detected,” Chong said, adding that one trader took a close look at the note but still did not suspect anything.
Chong said he had seen a number of fake RM50 notes but claimed that Loh’s fake RM100 note was more sophisticated.
”I will bring the matter up to Bank Negara,” he said.
Manchester United are the Champions of Europe and the Champions of England too.
MOSCOW, May 21 (Reuters) - Ryan Giggs broke Bobby Charlton’s all-time Manchester United club appearance record on Wednesday when he replaced Paul Scholes after 87 minutes of the Champions League final against Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium.
It was Giggs’ 759th appearance for United, surpassing Charlton’s mark of 758 which was also set against Chelsea in his last match for United in April 1973.
After Giggs had helped his side to another Champions League triumph - this time over Chelsea - he dismissed any suggestions he was ready to retire by declaring: ‘I want nights like this again.’
He told Sky Sports he was confident about taking his penalty in the shoot-out, but still believes the 1999 final was more dramatic.
‘I don’t think you can beat ‘99,’ Giggs said.
‘Penalties can be a lottery. It’s how close the teams have been all season.’
Giggs said it was a proud moment to beat Sir Bobby Charlton’s appearance record for United, especially on a night of Champions League glory.
‘It is a proud achievement for myself and my family,’ he said.
Congrats to Towkay for shifting back to hometown again. Well, he have almost everything at home (yeah, it is actually his old home given to him by his dad), so all the buddies contributed a high tech mahjong table and rummy set for him. Nowadays, mahjong table don’t need mahjong papers anymore. And of course we all contributors have to autograph the present with permanent marker pen. Hope the table will last a lifetime.
It is one of the most interesting mahjong table with autographs and grafitti. So… Siow Hui and the-soon-to-be-born baby, welcome to Selayang Utama. Next month there’ll be another addition to the selayang clan. Congrats again.
In a year that marks 50 years since Munich and 40 since United’s first European Cup success, there has been plenty to look back on this season. But Wayne Rooney wants to write a new chapter in the Reds’ history in Moscow.
Having already beaten Chelsea to the title, Rooney says the players are relaxed and confident. “We enjoyed ourselves last Sunday, but we’re holding back celebrations until after Wednesday,” he says. “Hopefully then we’ll have even more to celebrate.
“We’re more relaxed with the Premier League in the bag. Chelsea might be more anxious because if they don’t win then they’ll win nothing this season. Maybe that helps us, but I’m sure winning the league won’t make it an easier game.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has frequently stated his belief that United, based on stature and past opportunities, should have won more European Cups. Rooney, too, aims to alter that record, and with 1958 and 1968 in mind, hopes fate plays a part in 2008.
“The Champions League is very important, not least because of the club’s history in the tournament,” he adds. “There was the Munich tragedy in 1958 and winning it 10 years later. It’d be good for the club and the players to win it again.
“When you walk around the training ground there are pictures from ’58, ’68 all the way through to today. There’s a big history at this club and the players are well educated on it. I’m excited about the final. I’d like to go to bed and get up on Wednesday! It’s like Christmas when you were a kid – I just can’t wait to get there.”
Man, its quite a nice song in it own right and I’ve listened to it on the radio the whole day…. like every hour since morning. Will this be something huge for Malaysia like what We Are The World to America?
Malaysian Artistes For Unity is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit national unity project made possible by the participation of over 120 notable Malaysians.
Enlisted to the project over a short period of two weeks in April 2008, these participants range from artistes, celebrities, arts activists, media-personalities, musicians, dancers, sportsmen, filmmakers, web designers, producers, technicians, poets, models and more.
All participants contributed their effort on a pro-bono basis. The project has a production budget of exactly zero.
The project is centered on two things: (1) a multi-artistes recording of an original racial unity song; and (2) a music video of that song featuring over 50 notable Malaysians.
When completed, both the song and the video will be broadcasted and distributed to the public for free via traditional media channels as well as the Internet.
What is its objective? The project seeks to celebrate cultural diversity and the ideal of Bangsa Malaysia through video and music. Its central message is one of racial unity. By being made freely available to the public, the project is also a gift from all the participants to the nation.
What is the song? The song is entitled ‘Here In My Home’. Pete Teo wrote the song especially for the project. Although it is primarily an English language composition, it features 3 other languages [Malay, Mandarin and Tamil] and is sung by 16 different artistes. Adflin Shauki will be producing a predominantly Malay language version of the song in the second phase of the project.
What is the video? Co-directed by Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yuhang, the video was shot at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre on the 24th of April. Other than the 16 singers featured on the song, over 30 other notable Malaysians also made cameo appearances. Technicians and production crew numbered over 40 people. The video will premier to a nationwide audience at the AIM 2008 awards night on the 3rd of May.
Who is Involved? The list of participants includes numerous Malaysian household names. It also features many who are unknown outside of the sub-communities in which they work. The intention is to be as inclusive and representative as possible, in that the project not only reflects the racial diversity of Malaysia, but also of the manifold sub-communities that together constitute the nation.
The following is a full list of project participants:
Artistes [Singers] Adflin Shauki / Awie / Ning Baizura / Jaclyn Victor / Reshmonu / Pete Teo / Atilia / Jason Lo / KLG Sqwad / Altimet / Suki / Daniel Lee / Nikki Palikat / Melina William
Cast [Cameo] Datuk Tony Fernandez / Maya Karin / Harith Iskander / Singletrackmind / Stephen Chua / Izzy Mohamed / Shebby Singh / Nell Ng / Mak Wai Hoo / Badri Ibrahim / Chan Fong / Mark Teh / Kamal Sabran / Sharifah Amani / Ng Choo Seong / Pang Khee Teik / Jerome Kugan / January Low / Amber Chia / Nick Lee / Liang You Cheng / Muid Latif / Chong Ji Ann / Ida Nerina / Muhamad Safwan / Anissa Abd Aziz / Fadly Sabran / Danny One / Nurhanim Khairudin / Joe Loy / Ho Yuhang / Yasmin Ahmad
Project Volunteers:
Project Producer Pete Teo Assistant Producer Albert Law Song Producer Greg Henderson & Pete Teo Recording Engineer Greg Henderson Mixing & Mastering Engineer Nick Lee Song Composer Pete Teo Video Production Chilli Pepper Films Video Producer Effendi Harjoh Video Director Yasmin Ahmad & Ho Yuhang Director [Making Of Video] Michelle Lo Director Of Photography Pete Abdullah First A.D. Pitt Fierdaus Editing House Mirage Video Editor Raja Affandi & Kazman Kassim Video Editor [Making Of Video] Akashdeep Singh Video Technical Producers Farid Yusof / Fara Ghazali / Nina Camera Krubanathan / Joe Kumar / Syukor Hashim / Azam Mohd Yusoff Lighting Megat Anuar / Suri Grip Yazid / Zamzul Styling & Make-Up Josephine Yam / Vivian Lee / Suning C Volunteers Edwin Goh / Emily Tan / Dora Chua / Melissa Tan / Fry Hew / Kelvin Yoon / Raymond Lee / Frederick Tan / Felix Tan / Chong Chin Siong / Vincent Lee / William Ong / Evangeline Wong / Jenny Heng / Lim Vi Vian / Alvin Law Location Sponsor Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre Catering Sponsors Alliance Cosmetics / Alexis Web Design & Services Muid Latif & Digital Malaya Aircraft Graphics Design Pete Teo / Albert Law / Frederick Tan / Felix Tan / Emily Tan Publicity Joan Lau / Millennium Associates
How will it be distributed? Both the song and the music video can be downloaded and streamed from various sites on the Internet for free. A project website will be set up to provide, amongst other things, project information and a list of download / streaming distribution platforms - including music portals, video sharing sites, current affairs news sites and personal blogs.
The project will establish a presence on social networking websites such as Facebook and Myspace. Naturally, airplay on radio and TV will also be sought.
What’s the project timeline? The song and video will be showcased on AIM night to a live nationwide television audience on May 3rd. The distribution platform for both the video and the song will be established in the next 10-12 days. By May 12th, we expect to hold a press conference announcing the availability of the video and song for free download and streaming on the Internet. Concurrently, we will try to establish as much airplay of the song/video on Malaysian radio and television as possible.
How can I help? If you are a member of the media, you can help by publicizing the project with reportage or interviews. All participants involved in the project are available for media interviews and photo sessions. Please contact our publicist for this.
If you are not a member of the media, you can help by simply downloading the song/video or requesting the song/video on your favorite radio or TV station. Lastly, you can also help by posting or embedding the song/video on your websites, blogs and other Internet destinations.
