If you are into Bossa Nova, Latin Jazz or Brazilian Jazz you may be familiar with the name, Antonio Carlos Jobim. I really dig his music. The video on the right featured Jobim with Andy Williams jamming and stuff. Some info as per Wikipedia about Antonio Carlos Jobim:

Jobim’s musical roots were planted firmly in the work of Pixinguinha, the legendary musician and composer who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930s. Jobim was also influenced by the French composers Claude Debussy and Ravel, and by jazz. Among many themes, his lyrics talked about love, political repression, betrayal, and especially about the natural beauties of Brazil, like the “Mata Atlântica” forest, birds like the Matita Perê, and his home city of Rio de Janeiro.

One of his songs sung by Astrud Gilberto made a sensational hit especially in the US and internationally. In fact a key event in making Jobim’s music known in the English speaking world was his collaboration with the American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Gilberto’s wife. The song was entitled “Girl From Ipanema”.

The story goes that Jobim and his buddy Moraes would be chilling out in this “Veloso” bar-café and that the girl by the name of Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now Helô Pinheiro), a fifteen-year-old girl living in Montenegro Street of the fashionable Ipanema district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would stroll past the popular cafe on her way to the beach everyday. Pictured here is Helô Pinheiro in her later life.

Oh she did become a Playboy Playmate in 1987 and another time in 2003! Well, you can do anything if you’re the Girl from Ipanema!

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There I was…feeling lonely and a little bit sleepy because of my lack of sleep, I was just about to grumble and leave the shop when lo and behold! I saw this bright light shining right at me (actually it was a car driving in to park in front of the shop) and then there was this three ladies coming straight at me. With my vision a little blurred due to the light, I slowly regained my sight… Read more »

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I miss Sabah bah!

To those of you Sabahan’s who are in peninsular Malaysia, Australia, America or even the North Pole, some of you may be wondering how are you supposed to listen to ‘Sabah VFM’ the local radio station of Sabah. (Under the RTM or Radio Televisyen Malaysia). I have not been successful in searching for an online streaming of this radio show. Most of the time it was a broken link. But today I found the link that I was looking for and this time it works. It’s a live streaming I guess. Not the steam cleaners kind of course he he.

Click the logo to listen immediately! (You need a player that supports ASX type of files like Winamp or Windows Media Player which most of you already have) Oh also the bitrate is at 24 Kbps so don’t expect cd quality audio. It’s also in mono.

Found via

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As mentioned, here are some of the photos taken in Kunak during our Kaamatan festival organized by the little church with a big heart-St Peter’s Church of Kunak. For those of you who’s wondering what ‘Kaamatan’ means, this explanation from Wikipedia sum it up pretty well:

The Kaamatan Festival is an annual event in the cultural life of the Kadazandusuns of Sabah since time immemorial. In its deepest sense, Kaamatan festival is a manifestation of Creator and Creation relationship, as well as Inter-Creations relationship. It embodies the principal acts of invocation of divinities, appeasing, purification and restoration, re-union of benevolent spirits, and thanksgiving to the Source of All. It is part of a complex wholesome Momolian religious system centered on the paddy rites of passage and the life cycle of Bambarayon - the in-dwelling spirit of paddy.

I must say I will miss Kunak quite a bit, especially the wonderful people. The next time I’m coming over there, I will be some sort of a tourist. My dad will retire pretty soon and he will be moving to his village called Kampung Popot in Kudat. Click the dog’s photo to view the photo album. It’s in my Friendster album thingy. (Can save some hosting Megabytes mah…)

*Speaking of wonderful people, if you are thinking of sending birthday invitations, try www.thepartystartshere.com.

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