Berita Adik will be replaced by Bananana Squad in 2013

Berita Adik airs its last ever episode today with a short retrospective of its past episodes. It will be replaced by Bananana Squad starting tomorrow (according to Hypp TV Unifi's electronic programme guide), although there was no mention of its replacement in the last episode of Berita Adik.

Berita Adik was a 2-minute children's news programme which concentrates only on one news report related to children's events or interesting current affairs. Berita Adik had previously aired weather forecasts for each Malaysian cities and capitals and also information of children's competitions and appeal for disasters on its ticker. Berita Adik is a production of Primeworks Studios, a company of Media Prima, and has been broadcast for two years since 2011. Its airtime was daily at 2:28 pm with a repeat at 5:28 pm, which is between the start and the end of Nick di 9 block. The format was an adaptation of TV3 Kids News which was aired every weekday mornings at 9:30 am for 2 minutes.

Other short children's programmes are also airing on Media Prima's TV channels besides TV9; Bananana Voice Out on Saturday and Sunday mornings on TV3 and Kids@fgw on NTV7, also on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Korean analogue TV switch-off on December 31

South Korean TV will go fully digital on December 31, reports KBS World Radio. The terrestrial analogue switch-off will occur on December 31 at 4:00 am local time for 99-percent of all transmissions in the country. The transistion for the remaining 0.3% will occur as soon as possible. The following is a news report on KBS News 9 earlier this evening.

Retrospective of my life in 2012

Time flies so fast, so much things have happened this year. There's only two days left before we enter the new year of 2013. This year has brought a lot of positive changes to my life. Now I've decided to make a retrospective of my life for this year.

I went to Form 4 this year. The optional subjects that I took - Perdagangan, Tasawwur and ICT - and also the compulsory subjects - have increased my knowledge and benefited me a lot. These are useful for my future. In Sejarah, I learn about the early civilizations of the Greeks, Mesopotamia, Chinese and Egyptians. I also know much about the history of Islam after the death of Prophet Muhammad which includes the Bani Umaiyah, Bani Abbasiyah and Turki Uthmaniyyah. It's so interesting. Reading the history of Islam is much like watching Jejak Rasul. I also learn about colonization made by the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch and also the British. The ICT subject has also broaden my ICT knowledge, especially about the internet. In Tassawur, I learn further about Islam. When I take SPM next year, most of the things that I learned in Form 4 will be put in the SPM examinations. So I need to revise more on that.

This year I'm also active on the internet. I've opened my blog and my twitter, all inspired from ootayasuko, a fan of Perman from Japan. Having a twitter account makes me feel like a typical teenager or a youth while having a blog makes me feel like a typical adult writing his thoughts and interests in a blog. Blog websites have appeared and been growing since the past decade. With all these things, I don't feel like a child again.

I've started blogging since March this year. My blog's name is "hazimworks", with "Hazim" taken from my name and "works" taken from Primeworks Studio, a production company of Media Prima. I've been actively blogging for the past nine months and have made 97 posts. The busiest month I do blogging for this year is this month with 25 posts. The least active month I do blogging was in May with just one post. I usually do blogging during school holidays or weekends. I try writing in my blog whenever I have an idea to write something that I like or I got an interesting news to tell. Subjects that I've written in my blog are the local broadcasting scene, telecommunication and anime.

I opened my Twitter account sometime after I opened this blog. My twitter icon is my fanart of Perman where Mitsuo looks at his copy robot's face turned into a clock. I write "Mitsuo no toke", meaning Mitsuo's clock. I drew a clock on Mitsuo's copy robot's face to represent my interest in broadcasting. I want Mitsuo's copy robot's face to resemble a typical clock that I saw on Malaysian TV. Clocks appear before a news broadcast on TV and is common in my country.  I followed ootayasuko's account first, then the other accounts that interest me, mostly about the local broadcasting scene. Throughout the time I used Twitter, I followed Twitter users that like Perman, mostly from Japan. They are cherry_drops123, yoneemon, kagemaki, milkcocoa21, PAT_iSUMER and perman_magic. cherry_drops123 is a good friend of mine on Twitter. She is a fan of Perman and is able to speak some English with me.

I got acquainted with Perman anime since December 2010 and started watching full time since October last year. Perman is an anime from the man who makes Doraemon. It is my favourite anime right now besides Kiteretsu, also from the man who makes Doraemon.

I would always eat dinner early one hour before the show starts at 7:00 pm every Friday. Watching the anime makes me feel excited because I learn about new things that I don't know in the anime, especially about Sumire Hoshino, one of the characters in Perman who also appear in Doraemon as an adult. Doraemon influenced me to watch Perman. Watching Perman has also revived my passion for drawing. I drew out the characters of Perman especially Mitsuo Suwa from the pictures that I captured when I watch the anime. 

In Wikipedia editing, I learned how to source the information I got (usually newspaper websites' news articles) to my edit on an article. Now I'm writing about lists of programmes on Astro Ceria and TV9, foreign relations of Malaysia and 2012 in Malaysia. In the past, I would only do small edits on an article. I do editing in Wikipedia since 2007, mostly through the English Wikipedia.

I'm currently learning Japanese by myself, mostly through my experience and trial and error. I've started doing this since June 2010 by looking for Japanese writings in Fukuchan anime and also other animes that I watch such as Nonochan and Atashinchi and watching TV sign-ons and sign-offs from Japan on Youtube. I also learn through Google Translation by entering some Japanese text into it.

Throughout the time I learn Japanese, I know all letters of kana (Japanese alphabets which are hiragana and katakana), some kanji (Japanese characters) and some Japanese phrases. I found out that some Japanese phrases that have kanji have different readings, depending on the context of the sentences. The new Japanese phrases that I learn besides the other common phrases that non-Japanese speakers know are konbanwa (good evening) and saraba (another way to say goodbye). I also able to learn Chinese because some of the kanji also appear in Chinese writing. One of my teachers at school, Cikgu Yeoh, helped me with some Chinese phrases.

Learning Japanese has helped me to distinguish between those who don't know Japanese and those who know some Japanese. I really appreciate my knowledge of Japanese a lot, much like how Seungri of Bigbang did. I really like him because he speaks Japanese. I saw him presenting some episodes of Sakigake, a variety show produced by Fuji TV. He has also appeared on some Japanese variety shows. He is the youngest member of Bigbang, a K-POP boy band. He speaks Japanese fluently. Bigbang is a K-POP boy band that I like the most. I used to hear the band's songs a lot.

This year is so remarkable for me because I travelled to places that I've never been before; Langkawi (in June), Alor Setar and Perlis (in December) and Jugra, Banting and Morib beach in Selangor (in April).  I also travelled to Melaka with NASOM students last November. I went to UKM's main campus in Bangi in February and July, FRIM Kepong in November for jogging, Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial in January, Tun Abdul Razak Memorial and National Museum in February with NASOM One Stop students, Angkasapuri in April for a TV programme. and in December Wisma R&D Universiti Malaya which was used by Telekom Malaysia as their headquarters. 

These are the events of my life that happened this year. Next year I will be busy with school so I think I would not be blogging very often. Maybe. But I will still updating my blog. I'm also going to improve my writing skills and I will also rebrand my blog and my twitter.

Before I sign off, I would like to wish Happy New Year 2013. I want to do my best in my SPM examinations where I will be sitting for the exams in November next year. Thanks for reading.

(Revised on January 5, 2013)

TV3 and TV9 are now on NJOI satellite

TV3 and TV9, both Media Prima TV channels, are now on NJOI, Astro's free-to-air satellite service which was started earlier in 2012.

By the way, I HONESTLY REALLY hate Collin Chong, the voice talent, who makes the promo of the announcement whose voice is sooooooooo angry, I realllllly hate it!!!!!!

Smartphones

This is my article about smartphones based on my experiences. I am currently learning Information and Communication Technology at school.

Nowadays more people are using smart phones. Smart phone is part of mobile computing. Smartphones are more advanced than normal touch-pad mobile phones of the 2000s, which are mostly produced by Finnish company Nokia. The smartphones that we have nowadays started with the advent of the iPhone in 2007 and the Samsung Galaxy S series since 2010. Features of a typical smart phone are: the screen is touchable with a finger, easy navigation, smart phones now have their own operating systems besides computers (Android and iOS) and the most interesting part, there are many mobile applications (apps) to choose from and smartphone users benefited from the apps. Examples of smartphones used by people nowadays are Samsung Galaxy S series, iPhone and Sony Xperia. 

Tablet computers are also common, also because of smart phones since the launch of iPad in 2010. The tablet computers of nowadays is a bigger version of smartphones and much of the features are similar to that of a smartphone, except you cannot make a call from the tablet computer. Much smaller versions of tablet computers are also available; one example is the iPad Mini. Samsung has also embraced the world of photography through mobile computing with the launch of Samsung Galaxy Camera. Samsung also wants smartphone users to do note taking through smartphones with Samsung Galaxy Note, with includes a built-in S Note app.

In the past decade, mobile phones are popular. Mobile phones have brought us to a generation where most people would communicate wherever they go through voice calls or making an SMS message (in Western countries people would call it making a text message). Making an SMS message also involves the shortening of certain words in the message because of the small capacity of characters allowed in an SMS message. SMS messaging is popular among youth people.

Other Perman characters that I know besides the main characters (as of December 2012)

This is a list of other Perman characters that I know besides the main characters (as of December 2012). Of all the characters below, I knew Yuki-chan and Edison-kun the most.

1. Yuki-chan (山岸ユキ) 
Yuki Yamagishi or Yuki-chan. Occasional character in Perman; first appearance in the 1980s. Yuki-chan is Copy Mitsuo (copy robot of Perman No.1/Mitsuo Suwa)'s girlfriend. She moved from her hometown village to the city where Copy Mitsuo lives which is Asahigaoka. Her birthday is on October 12th, after the original airdate of episode 423 where the episode was about Yuki-chan's birthday. The first time I knew her was in the illustrations made by Okke-san in Asahigaoka Sumire-dan (Okke-san's Perman fan website). I saw her twice in the Perman anime which is episode 383 (as a cameo) and episode 423. One of my friends in twitter, @kagemaki_K, likes the character Yuki-chan. He listed out the Perman episodes where Yuki-chan appeared and made illustrations about her on his website. @cherry_drops123 prepared a collection of Yuki-chan's birthday drawings from her friends on Twitter in October 2012.
2. Okame Kamen
A masked evil that once appeared in chapter 5 of Perman manga in the Complete Works of Fujiko F. Fujio. @cherry_drops123 (another friend of mine in Twitter who is also a fan of Perman) made an illustration of him. I had once made a post about him using the details mentioned in @cherry_drops123's blog about him.
3. Bisho Toshihiko
Rival of Perman No.1 who once appeared in a story in the Perman manga. @cherry_drops123 made an illustration of him and also prepared a collection of Bisho-kun's drawing from her friends on Twitter in November 2012. Some of her Perman fan fiction stories have appearancs of him. I made posts about him twice including one about his name.
4. Edison-kun
Young inventor. He is named after Thomas Edison. He sometimes appeared in Perman anime in episodes 372, 393 (with Sharoku-kun), 394, 443 (cameo) and 466 (this is the count of how much he has appeared as far as I watched the episodes in Perman anime).
5. Sharoku-kun
Young detective. His name is a Kanji rendition of the name "Sherlock (Holmes)", a famous detective. I have seem him once with Edison-kun in episode 393. He does not appear very often in Perman anime.

Two new programmes starting 2013 on Media Prima's Bananana

To start the new year of 2013, Media Prima's Bananana children's block has two new programmes. The first one is Planet Kiara, a local science fiction drama series. It will air every Thursday at 6:30 pm on TV3. It is a co-production between the National Science Centre and Bleu Nagas Productions Sdn Bhd. The drama will run for 26 episodes. The title of the drama is taken from the name of the place where the National Science Centre is located which is Bukit Kiara. The drama tells the story of Prof Johari's family with his four children and a robot named PSN-1 (also named after the initials of the National Science Centre). The drama is part of a government initiative made by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation increase the awareness of science, technology and innovation to children (TV3 had previously aired Dengan Inovasi Yo which targets teenagers, also a government initiative by the same ministry). (Source: mStar online (The Star))

NTV7 also has a new programme which is called K-On, an anime which has been previously aired on pay-TV Animax in 2009. The anime is popular among anime fans especially teenagers. It will air every Sunday at 10:00 am starting January 6, 2013.

(Revised on January 6, 2013)

Unsung Places goes to Takayama and Matsumoto in Japan

In the third episode of "Unsung Places" on TV3 (Malay documentary series),Thanuja Amanathan visited the central part of Japan. The first place that she went was Takayama in Gifu prefecture. Takayama is also known as Little Kyoto because the natives are mostly wood carpenters who make wood crafts for the palaces in Kyoto. The Miyagawa river flows at the middle part of Takayama.

Thanuja later visited "Kamisan no machi" where the Kunasaka Shizo sake brewery is located. She also looks at the making of miso, a Japanese food made of soy beans. The miso takes about one to three years to ferment itself. The miso which was previously used only by the aristocratic people, is now used by many Japanese to make food. For dinner, Thanuja tried eating uncooked salmon fish with soy sauce.

The next day, Thanuja visited the morning market located at Sanmachi in Takayama which opens from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm. It faces the bank of Miyagawa river. Besides selling local goods, it sells local crafts such as Sarubobo and Ichihitobori.

The second place that Thanuja went was Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture. She visited Nawate Street where the shops in the street sells antique and modern items. Small frog statues are placed at the front of each shops to bring good prosperity to the shops. She also saw the making of soba, another Japanese food which is made of doughs. The Toji soba in Nagawa is one of the places in Japan where soba is made. The Japanese eats according to the changes of the season which maintains their health. This is an effective food diet of the Japanese.

Thanuja also visited a place where a couple who lives in Matsumoto makes paper craft out of Japanese paper known as washi. Washi is made out of wood pulp of various Japanese trees. The month of May is the month of the display of Matsumoto handicrafts. 

Old TV3 building at Jalan Liku Bangsar

Old TV3 building now used for Bangsar Avenue's The Mist (taken in May 2009)
Back of old TV3 building as seen from Wisma R&D Universiti Malaya Kuala Lumpur where the old exterior was preserved (taken today)

Address: 18 Jalan Liku, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur (located at the back of Balai Berita NSTP)
Used by TV3 from 1984 to 1998

(Revised on December 23)

TV and film classifications in Malaysia

TV and film classification in Malaysia
This is an investigation of TV and film classifications in Malaysia, made by myself based on my experiences. TV and film classifications are used since 1996, however there TV3 used it briefly in 1985 with the classification "B" for parental guidance. Such awareness of classifications to the public through special websites and advertisements except news reports are rare unlike in countries such as Australia which is more common. Comparing to the number of classifications in most countries like Australia, the number of classifications is much fewer because of the nature of local culture, customs and Islam being the official religion of Malaysia and the religion of the majority of Malaysians.

• LPF classification

The classification for TV programmes on free-to-air TV, Hypp TV (pay-TV on IPTV) and movies are governed by the Film Classification Board of Malaysia. These classifications are more commonly appear on film listings and movie posters in cinemas and newspapers but not for movie trailers that air on TV. Classifications for TV programmes never appear on TV listings in newspapers and electronic programme guide (as of December 2012, my investigation). TV stations will only air these classifications before each programme (RTM which credits all programmes under the LPF classification as films; TV Alhijrah and Hypp TV use logos only), but may also air these classifications after each commercial break (Media Prima only). News, sports and live programmes are exempted from the classification, but live programmes that may air again as a repeat or pre-recorded may do so.

U - General viewing 
The most common classification. Almost all programmes on TV have this classification. Programmes in this classification can air at any time.
P13 - Parental guidance recommended for viewers below age of 13
The second most common classification but more common in cinemas. TV programmes such as drama, cartoons that have violence (as reported once by myself) and documentaries that are supernatural in nature have this classification. Programmes in this classification can only air at certain times of the day. This rating was introduced as PG 13 in 2009 and was renamed P13 in 2012.
18 -  Not suitable for viewers below age of 18
The least common classification. TV programmes such as wrestling have this classification. Can only air after 10:00 pm until early morning. The 18 classification is a merger of the previous content-based classifications such as 18SG, 18SX, 18PA and 18PL.

• Astro classification

Same as LPF but without the P13 classification. Classifications also appear on Astro's electronic programme listing and movie listings in the Astro View magazine distributed to Astro subscribers. Only Astro movie channels Astro First and Astro Best use P13 classification.

• Other classifications that appear on TV

KBS World's programmes use Korean TV classifications even though they are based in South Korea to be broadcast internationally for foreign audiences. The most common classifications for programmes are 12 and 15, mostly for dramas and variety shows. Disney Channel Asia, Disney XD and Cartoon Network Asia use PG classifications.

(Revised on December 26) 

My hobby (as of December 2012)

This is my hobby as of December 2012

• Blogging (since March 2012, inspiration to open my blog was from ootayasuko's blog that I visited when I started watching Perman in 2011; ootayasuko is a fan of Perman)
• Twitter (also because of ootayasuko)
• Drawing 
• Write down information on my A4 paper and then search on the internet when I have free time
• Editing Wikipedia articles (since 2007)
• Taking pictures with my camera (I own a Panasonic Lumix since 2008)
• Searching for amateur radio callsigns and callsigns that appear on aircrafts and helicopters 
• TV branding design (since 2005, concentrating on United Kingdom)

Two Malaysian voice talents

These are the details of two Malaysian voice talents regularly heard on Malaysian TV, based on my experience watching TV.


Muhammad Shah Musa

• Voice talent for promos on Astro Prima, public service announcements produced by Filem Negara Malaysia, narrator for PMR Sejarah on Astro Tutor TV, narrator for 321 Mula (local sports documentary on TV1 and TV2) and occasionally advertisements. Doing voice talent since late 2010
• Previously worked as a deejay for RTM's radio stations RMIK (KL FM) and Radio Muzik (Muzik FM) and later a newscaster for Warta Perdana on TV1 in 2004.

Ryan Lee Bhaskaran

• Lended his voice for Hiroshi for Malay dub of Monster Kids/Monster Kid (Kaibutsu-kun) on TV9 and later on Astro Ceria in 2009 and lended his voice for Finn the Human for Malay dub of Adventure Time on Cartoon Network Asia 
• Also lended his voice for Adam in PMR English and PMR Science on Astro Tutor TV since 2011.  

(Revised on December 23)

My school holiday activities

The year-end school holidays for this year started early because of Awal Muharram and Deepavali on the second week of November. School holidays is the most enjoyable time for me because I can relax after a hectic school year, spending time enjoying my hobbies and sleep and wake up at a later time than school days (During school holidays I wake up before 10:00 am).

Much of my school holiday activities was spent at home surfing the internet by searching things that I wanted to know by referring to my written drawing papers that I kept, editing Malaysia-related articles on Wikipedia such as Johor royalty and 2012 in Malaysia (I'm a Wikipedian and this year I also learn how to refer sources that I found when I do editing in Wikipedia), drawing, interacting through twitter and facebook, taking pictures of helicopters and aircrafts that have callsigns flying in the sky (I don't collect them anymore because I lost interest right now and see the same helicopters and aircrafts every day).

I also learn about TV-FM-DXing again where I realised that E-skip happens in low VHF band, tropo in UHF band and the tropical band is between medium wave and short wave (DXing is all about receving signals from far away places). In the past I simply enjoy looking at pictures received by TV DXers on the internet. The interest has enabled me to have a short stint in short wave DXing by taping station IDs that I hear in the band between 2006 and 2007. I wish that I want to do DXing again (concentrating on TV-FM DXing instead of amateur radio) once I have a good amount of money to buy DXing equipments.

I've been travelling to places outside Klang Valley; Melaka (in early November with NASOM friends) and the northernmost states of Peninsular Malaysia which are Kedah and Perlis (in early December). I've been in these places only for two days.

Places that I've been for the first time for this school holidays are FRIM in Kepong for jogging and the state of Perlis.

My parents and my mother's sister wants me to be slim and have a healthy body so they bought a pack of Nutrilite health supplements from Amway Malaysia for me. I've started taking the health supplements during breakfast (by drinking the flavoured health supplement drink and some pills) and before lunch and dinner (pills only) and exercising on a bicycle at my home since last month. This will take about ten weeks to make my body slim.

Blogging activities that I've done for this school holiday was talking about an anime called Chimpui that was started last month (now I don't want to watch it again because it's so girlish), anything related to local broadcasting activities that I know in newspapers and anything interesting that I found.

Blogposts that I want to make soon are "other Perman characters that I know", "review of year 2012", "review of my blog's viewership since I open this blog" and anything that is still in my mind that I want to discuss until the school break ends. I am also planning to rebrand my blog and my twitter for year 2013.

Capital FM's 1st anniversary after being owned by The Star

Capital FM yesterday celebrated its 1st anniversary at Kuala Lumpur, according to The Star. This is the station's 1st anniversary after being owned by Star Publications. The previous owner started the station in 2008. The station covers only the Klang Valley area through the 88.9 Mhz frequency and its target listeners is women (There has been a radio station which has been broadcasting with the same target which is called Wanita FM broadcasting on 88.1 Mhz in the Klang Valley area before being taken over by Media Prima and changed it as a nationwide Chinese radio station called One FM. There's also a Klang Valley-only station called BFM 89.9 which targets businessmen).

A survey by Capital FM made in the third quarter of 2012 (July-Sept) shows the station had 120,000 listeners in the first year after being taken over by Star Publications, not including those who listen online or through the downloaded Capital FM app.

2012 Royal Trophy in Brunei on TV1

The 2012 Royal Trophy golf tournament held at Empire Hotel & Country Club, Brunei is broadcast on TV1 in English. The golf tournament is held between December 14 and 16. TV1 carries the live coverage for two hours at 2:00 pm and the highlights after midnight on December 15 and 16. This is a recent occurrence of a golf tournament airing on free-to-air TV. Golf tournaments are usually aired on pay-TV channels such as Golf Channel, Astro Supersport, ESPN and Star Sport.

News item about ABNxcess cable pay-TV

New Malaysian digital service targets 80% TV households in 5 years

Malaysia’s newest digital cable TV company, the ABN Media Group, began offering trials of its ABNxcess services in June this year and is targeting to reach 80 percent of the country’s six million TV households within five years, thestar.com reports
Asian Broadcasting Network (M) Sdn Bhd (ABN) President and CEO Sreedhar Subramaniam said, “Our service is now available in Sri Damansara, parts of Subang and we will begin broadcasting in two areas in Johor Baru this month.
“Early next year we will extend our services in areas in Penang, Ampang and Puchong,'' he added.
ABN, a unit of ABN Media Group, is in direct competition with satellite pay-TV operator Astro and IPTV provider, Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
The company is offering 50 linear channels for its basic package which includes information, education and entertainment channels, some games and also radio channels. Video on demand and sports packages will also be made available soon.
ABN is also planning to set up a 24-hour news channels in the second quarter of 2013.

Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (news item on 13.12.2012) 

Summary:
ABNXcess trials began in June 2012. The service is available to Sri Damansara and parts of Subang as of the time this news item was written in the ABU website. ABNXcess later begins broadcasting to two areas in Johor Baru in December 2012. By early 2013, it will expand to Penang, Ampang and Puchong. A news channel will start in the second quarter of 2013. (ABNXcess is the sole digital cable TV provider in Malaysia as cable TV is uncommon except for hotels).

Atashinchi on TV3

Atashinchi was an anime that was produced by TV Asahi and Shin-ei Animation. It is based on an original manga by Eiko Kera. In Malaysia, the anime was aired between 2007 and 2009 and ran again between 2011 and 2012. It is aired using Malay dub initially translated from Mandarin dub and in the second run translated from original Japanese audio. The anime was also aired on 8TV in Mandarin dub with Malay subtitles.

During its initial run on TV3, episodes were from the very start, which is episode 1 until episode 51. During its second run, it continued from episode 52 to episode 106. 

The anime suffered many changes in airtime due to other programmes and also had some hiatuses. The anime is also considerably a bit shorter than other 30-minute programmes that are 22 minutes in length without commercials. The actual length of a typical Atashinchi episode would be at around 18-20 minutes without commercials and other filler material after the anime ends.

The list below shows the airtime of Atashinchi during its first run on TV3, using Utusan Online's archive as reference.

• Initial airtime: Sunday 11:02 am (after Berita Terkini)
• Sunday 7:00 pm (late 2007)
• Sunday 7:30 pm (early 2008, Feb 2009)
• Saturday 12:30 to 1:30 pm (compilation of earlier episodes in late 2008, separate into two parts, ends 10 minutes early before the next programme which is Buletin 1:30)
• Saturday 12:02 pm (late 2008 to 2009)
• Friday 7:30 pm (March 2009)
• Friday 7:00 pm (repeats of early episodes, when Atashinchi almost ended its run in late 2009)

No Atashinchi episodes were broadcast for the whole year of 2010, although it returned for its second run on 26 February 2011 with episode 52. It suffered some hiatuses due to its airtime occupied for Jejak Rasul in August 2011 and January 2012 for re-runs of Boboiboy. The last episode aired was episode 106 on 2 May 2012. Between 9 May and 28 June 2012, it began re-run from episodes that were aired on TV3 starting February 2012, which is from episode 52 to 59. TV3 stopped airing Atashinchi after this period since July 2012 for other programmes. It is unknown whether TV3 would continue airing Atashinchi again.

The following shows the airtime of Atashinchi during its second run on TV3.

• Initial airtime: Saturday 7:00 pm (February 2011)
• Wednesday 6:30 pm (late 2011-June 2012)
• Saturday and Sunday, later Saturday only 7:00 am (re-run of earlier episodes starting from first airing on TV3 in February 2011)

References: Utusan Online, Atashinchi-gaoka 5-chome (Atashinchi fan website in Japanese)

(Partially updated on December 16)

121212 The Concert for Sandy Relief on Malaysian TV

The 121212 the Concert for Sandy Relief held at Maidson Square Garden in New York, USA, was broadcast in Malaysia by a majority of pay-TV channels on Astro. The concert was broadcast several hours after the concert ended on HBO HD Asia, Fox Movies Premium (according to Astro TV guide), MTV Asia, E! and Bio. Some channels carry the concert live, which is Sundance Channel Asia, Sony BeTV and Animax. Diva Universal's carriage of the concert is not included in Astro's lineup.

(Updated on December 15)

Domain Myra on Astro Ria in early 2000s

Domain Myra was a programme that concentrates on technology, especially on the development of selected websites and websites that are developed by Malaysians. The programme was produced by Double Vision for Astro Ria in the early 2000s. It is hosted by Myra, who is actually a virtual host, generated using motion capture. Motion capture was done by POV and EL Videographics. The executive producers were Low Huoi Leong and Steve Bristow. Animation was done by Albert Chew. It takes six months to complete the animation of Myra. This was Malaysia's first attempt in making a virtual host.

In an article about Domain Myra by Utusan Malaysia in 2001, Myra is a 19 year old Pan Asian who is active and knows a lot about the world of information technology. She resembles Victoria Adams, one of the singers of Spice Girls, a popular British girl group that was popular in the late 1990s.

Besides Myra, virtual host were used in Anugerah Era 2001 and 2002, also on Astro Ria. A robot is used to be the host.

Two videos below show examples of Myra presenting the programme.

Launch of Media Prima Digital

On December 12, Media Prima Digital was launched in Petaling Jaya, states Harian Metro. Media Prima Digital is established through the merger of Media Prima's existing new media companies; Alt Media Sdn Bhd (TV and radio) and NSTP E-media Sdn Bhd (newspaper). The new platform is established to give focus to the digital segment which has become the most important medium to send information. The new company under the ownership of Media Prima expects the increase of online customers up to 30 percent.

Memories of Air Raves by Anthony Thanasayan in The Star

When I think about Anthony Thanasayan, I would think of his column ''Air Raves'' that was used to be published in The Star until December 2008. Thanasayan said in his blog profile that it was published every Wednesday. His column was moved to Thursday until being on Sunday months before the end of the column's run. It is a column where he writes about everything that is happening in the local broadcasting scene, especially about programmes on radio and television. Sometimes he writes about programmes by international broadcasters (BBC World Service, Radio Australia,Voice of America, etc) and recommends to tune to the respective shortwave frequencies. Some of his column's articles are also published in his blogs antairraves and airravesmalaysia.

The Star had previously published listings for TV and radio stations periodically. It had published the shortwave frequencies of BBC World Service (The Star names it as "BBC") besides the local radio stations frequencies (they are mostly on FM), the full TV schedule for local TV channels (nowadays just the full Life Inspired TV schedule where The Star owns it and TV programme highlights) and also Singapore TV schedules before the TV guides page (now only published in StarMetro Southern edition in the centrespread page). This is what I know from my head through my experience reading The Star since I was a child. I still rely on The Star because it is a good source for news.

Thanasayan, who is disabled since he was born, still writes to The Star with his column Wheel Power in the Star Two pullout where he writes about the welfare of the disabled and pets.

(Updated December 13)

All In Media signs a contract with Media Prima to provide apps

On December 4, Marketing Interactive reported that All In Media signed a contract with Media Prima to provide a range of mobile apps for Media Prima's radio stations in 2013. All In Media will make further developments to the existing online and smartphone services. All In Media is a broadcast system and smartphone app development company which has built over 200 radio apps and also built the Radioplayer app in the UK. This is All In Media's first contract with a Malaysian company.

Media Prima uses P13 classification for some action shows for kids

Recently I've seen some Media Prima TV stations, that is, TV3 and NTV7 began to use the P13 classification by the Film Censorship Board for some action series that are shown in the Bananana block, a children's programme block shown on Media Prima TV stations. The P13 classification which is orange in colour has the statement which appears before any programme that is classified P13 which is "parental guidance is recommended for viewers below 13". It is formerly known as PG 13 before 2012.

I'm not really sure why the Film Censorship Board staff at Media Prima decided to classify some action series for kids as P13 but I guess Media Prima has shown some responsibility to children about the contents in children's programming. I'm not really sure about RTM about the same thing (TV Alhijrah is not included because there are no action series for kids), but some pay-TV channels on Astro such as Disney Channel and Cartoon Network Asia have their own PG classification.

The action series that I've spotted having the P13 classification are
1. Fairy Tail (anime shown on NTV7, also shown on 8TV)
2. Voltron Force (TV3)
3. The 99 (also TV3; since it has some Islamic concepts, TV3 gives a strict warning at the start of the programme in its ticker, which reads "Keseluruhan peristiwa dan karekter yang terkandung dalam animasi ini bukanlah bersandarkan kepada hakikat dan fakta sejarah. Sebarang persamaan dalam keperibadian atau peristwa hanyalah sekadar fiksyen semata-mata", which translates as "all the events and characters in this animation are not based on reality and historical facts. Any similarities in personality or events are just fiction").

NTV7 still has more paranormal documentaries than any other station!

This is a follow-up to the earlier blogpost that I've made last month. I can still see NTV7 airing more paranormal documentaries than any other station! NTV7 caters these type of programmes to paranormal and ghost fans! Now there are two new programmes that are related to this matter!

The first one is Ghost Writer, a Hong Kong drama series which is airing right now and another one which is called Panik, a new Malay game show. It will start airing next year in January, as reported by New Straits Times. This show will be shot entirely at night between 11 pm and 4 am at some of the most haunted locations in Malaysia. It is a crossover between Fear Factor, Total Blackout, Ghost Hunters and Seekers. The show's host is Ridzuan Hashim of KL Gangster movie. Eight local celebrities will be divided to two teams (two males and two females) where they have to complete the given tasks that require them to try think properly on how to avoid fear.

PS: I'm not a fan of paranormal or ghost related activities. I just want to list out paranormal or ghost related programmes as I am enthusiastic about it.

Name differences of the characters of Doraemon

This is a list of name differences of the characters in Doraemon between different media, as far as I know. The media mentioned here are the comic book (I'm referring to the translated Malay version by Tora Aman that I used to read when I was a child) and the TV anime series (Malay dub broadcast on NTV7). The Doraemon comic books translated to Malay by Tora Aman sometimes change the names of some characters to reflect the Malaysian culture. The anime series does the other thing, preserving the original Japanese names instead. Both of them do not include the Japanese honorifics in the character's names, except in certain occasions.

The real written Japanese name of each character (I've written here in romanized version instead of the Japanese kana and kanji for your convenience) is bolded.

Doraemon (no name change but in Malaysia it is spelt as "do-re-mon", not the usual Japanese spelling which is "do-ra-e-mo-n" or "do-ra-e-mon" despite the airing of the opening song on NTV7)
Nobita (no name change; in Japan he is sometimes named as Nobita-kun or Nobita-san, the suffixes after his name are Japanese honorifics, the same applies to the other characters)
Shizuka (written as "Sizuka" in the comic book published by Tora Aman, in Japanese she is sometimes named as Shizu-chan)
Gian (written as "Giant" in the comic book published by Tora Aman)
Suneo (written as "Sinyu" in the comic book published by Tora Aman)
Dekisugi (was known as "Chong Meng" in the comic book published by Tora Aman, in the anime series on NTV7 he is known as Dekisugi instead)
Jaiko (I first know her as Hana in the comic book published by Tora Aman, another name of her besides the usual Jaiko that I've heard in the anime series on NTV7)
Nobisuke (Nobita's father's name, I first know him as Tanaka in the comic book published by Tora Aman; not his real name actually)
Sumire Hoshino (In the second story about Sumire Hoshino, a character in Perman, in the Doraemon comic book published by Tora Aman, she is known as Fauziah Latiff! Fauziah Latiff is a Malay singer who was popular in the 1990s; she is not popular in Japan. At one time I was so excited and compared her name in the comic book published by Tora Aman to the real Fauziah Latiff in a magazine. The real Fauziah Latiff is sometimes called by fans as Jee. I think Tora Aman have changed her name to give emphasis that she is a singer. But in the anime series she is referred as Sumire instead)

North of Peninsular trip (Dec 2012) - part 2

continued from part 1

After going to Padang Besar, we went back to Kangar. Kangar is the capital of the state of Perlis and it is not as big as other towns in Malaysia. There are not many tall buildings. I feel like it is the first time I was here even though my mother said that I have been here when I was a baby. We didn't go to places further than Perak (my parents' homestate) because my parents use their expenses for therapy and education for me and my other siblings. Places that are further than Perak that I have been before are Langkawi, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu (my father's sister lives there), Melaka (I've been there in June 2010 and in November 2012) and Johor Bahru (I was five and my father worked there).

We spent a night's stay at Putera Palace Hotel. My mother said the hotel reached its best years about 20 years ago. The best part while I was at Perlis is a big radio transmission tower located at Jalan Kaki Bukit, located not far away from Kangar. It is located at ground level instead at the top of the mountain like other places such as Gunung Jerai in Kedah.

The next day we left Kangar to visit our relatives at Kodiang, Kedah, not far from the border between the states of Perlis and Kedah. My mother felt that she had missed her relatives there for a long time since I was born.

Gunung Keriang not far from Alor Setar

We continued our journey to nearby Alor Setar, the capital of Kedah. The distance between Kangar and Alor Setar seems to be very short because the size of both states are not big, easily reachable and also have very large paddy fields. This is the second time I am at Alor Setar. The last time I was there was in June for my mother's younger brother's wedding, in fact it was the first time I was there. But this time I went there in a full scale. I was amazed by the buildings in Alor Setar because this is the first time I see them in real life.

Art Gallery

Balai Nobat

Balai Besar

Masjid Zahir

Alor Setar is also the birthplace of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, the former prime minister of Malaysia. I've seen and visited some places that are related to him. They are Maha Klinik, the clinic that Mahathir once used when he was a doctor before becoming a politician and Pekan Rabu, an open-air shopping complex selling local foodstuffs.

The last picture is Menara Alor Setar. It's a smaller version and a variation of Menara Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur. After that we left Alor Star for home.

North of peninsular trip (Dec 2012) - part 1

Last weekend some members of my family went to the northernmost part of Malaysia, that is, the states of Kedah and Perlis. We went there through the North-South Expressway with some stops until arriving at Alor Setar and then going through the trunk road to Kangar. We went to a wedding ceremony located just after a pusat serenti (drug addict rehabilitation centre).

After that we went to Padang Besar, a town located between the border bewteen Malaysia and Thailand. There are many local goods sold there, everything is too common, especially souvenir goods, but my favourite is Thai food snacks (the one which is a Thai guy wearing a round spectacle and big white shirt). I don't feel like I was close enough to the border because I am still in the Malaysian part of Padang Besar and I don't have a passport like what my father have.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

Part 2

I'll be going to Perlis!

Tomorrow some members of my family will be going to Perlis, the northernmost state of Peninsular Malaysia for somebody's wedding. I think this is the second time going far away (not including Perak) because in June, me and my family have gone to Langkawi for vacation and Alor Setar for my mother's younger brother's wedding. This time is a bit further because Perlis is close to the international border and in the neighbouring country of Thailand they use a different time zone which is UTC +19:00.

TV test patterns in Malaysia

From my Flickr photo page
 
TV test patterns used during off air time by local free-to-air TV stations in 2009

TV Alhijrah colour bars in 2010

EBU colour bars before TV Alhijrah test transmissions in late 2010

Philips PM5544 in 2011 on TV1

Comparison between Philips PM5544 in 2012 and 1986 on TV1

Ah Ziz Kota on Melodi 1995 and 1996

Ah Ziz Kota is a young man who found his fame in Sinaran, a talent show on TV3 in 1994. His stage name is a parody of Aziz Desa who presented Malaysia Hari Ini in the same year. In 1995, Ah Ziz Kota appeared in the gossip segment of Melodi as a stereotypical Chinese businessman. He sometimes appear as the real himself when he is in relief for Fauziah Ahmad Daud, the presenter of Melodi between late 1993 and 1997. I only know about him when the Emas channel on HyppTV Unifi aired Melodi episodes from the 1990s.

Fujiko anime currently airing in Malaysia (as of November 2012)

This is a list of Fujiko anime which is currently airing in Malaysia as of November 2012, compiled by myself. "Fujiko anime" refers to any anime that is based on either Fujiko F. Fujio or Fujiko Fujio A's works (eg. Doraemon and Ninja Hattori-kun). All animes are broadcast in their own flexible time (especially pay-TV) except otherwise stated.

FUJIKO F. FUJIO
1. Doraemon (NTV7, Sat 7:30 pm) - has been on this timeslot for a long time since 2003. Has been on NTV7 since 2002 with Crayon Shin Chan and was originally on TV1. Currently airs episodes from 2005 (the new series since 2005 in Japanese run) on a re-run basis before waiting for new episodes from 2006 onwards. The drawing song at the end of the show was dubbed in Malay. Doraemon movies have also been aired on Astro Ceria.
2. Kiteretsu (TV3, Mon 6:30 pm) - has been airing since March 2007. Episodes are currently from Spring 1995 period.
3. Perman (TV9, Fri 7:00 pm) - airs on this channel since 2009 with Monster Kids (Kaibutsu-kun). The original airtime was Sunday 5:30 pm; the current airtime was made in late 2010. Was aired on TV2 in the early 2000s in the morning.
4. Chimpui (Disney Channel Asia Astro Ch 615) - the first time an anime based on Fujiko F. Fujio's work is broadcast on pay-TV. Both the opening and ending songs are dubbed in Malay audio track and English audio track (Disney Channel's official broadcast language), however the opening and ending songs that is originally in Japanese is present in the Mandarin audio track.

FUJIKO FUJIO A
1. Ninja Hattori-kun (Astro Ceria) - originally aired on NTV7 between 2006 and 2009. The original dubbed audio track is still present when it is airing on Astro Ceria.
2. Monster Kid (Astro Ceria) - also known as Kaibutsu-kun in Japan. In TV9 it airs as "Monster Kids" and was aired between 2009 and 2011. The original dubbed audio track is still present when it is airing on Astro Ceria.

NTV7 airs more paranormal documentaries than any other free-to-air station

Looking at this week's NTV7 schedule yesterday, I could analyse that this TV station has more programmes related to paranormal and ghost stories than any other free-to-air TV station (not counting pay-TV). I'm not a real fan or interested with these matter but I have some enthusiasm to list out the programmes related to the matter.

Here are some of the paranormal and ghost story documentaries that are airing on NTV7. The first two airs at prime time. The third is a re-run while the fourth airs after midnight. The last one is currently in hiatus. The countries where the documentaries were made (second to fourth) are shown in brackets.
1. Paranormal Zone (locally-produced in English)
2. Ghost Lab (American)
3. Incredible Tales (Singapore)
4. The Unbelieveable (Hong Kong)
5. Seekers (locally-produced in Malay, has been airing on NTV7 since the mid-2000s)

NTV7's sister station, TV9 has started another paranormal documentary called Misteri Malam, which introduces viewers evidences made by local celebrities about ghosts and paranormal matters. TV9 also earlier started Switch Off, a reality show which challenges indie band celebrities about the same thing. TV3 has broadcast Misteri Nusantara which has been aired around the same time since NTV7's Seekers was started.

Local women-targeted TV channel to launch in 2013

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minister launched a TV channel exclusively for women at Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on November 23, as reported by Bernama. Femina Channel will launch in 2013 through multichannel TV services (pay-TV) as a free channel. It is broadcasting from Innovation House, Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. Programme genres that will be broadcast include drama, reality, news and health for women. It is operated by Panomax (M) Sdn Bhd and the managing director is Mohd Johari Mohd Noor, as revealed in The Star the next day. This channel is currently under trial transmission.

(Updated on November 24)

My new review about Chimpui

Since the first time I saw Chimpui on Malaysian TV, I've mentioned a lot about Chimpui anime from the man behind Doraemon in terms of content and scheduling of the anime in my blog. The start of the anime was flexible since it's already school holidays. Today I will talk about the episode synopses for the Chimpui anime that have been broadcast until today, my thoughts about Chimpui and the airtime schedule for Chimpui on Disney Channel Asia.

Episode 1: In the first story, Chimpui and Grandpa Wanderyu, two alien creatures from Planet Mahl came to meet Eri to announce that she was selected to be the bride of a prince. Eri's mother was going out and advised Eri to look after their house and avoid meeting with fake salespeople. In another story, Eri talks to her friend Uchiki that she found a new friend called Chimpui. Eri doesn't like Uchiki being busy playing baseball that his friends forced to, so Chimpui helped him. Uchiki also made a trick by pretending Chimpui as a stuffed toy to Eri's mother. In the end of the story, Chimpui was seen eating ramen which would later become his favourite food.

Episode 2: Wanderyu films the life of Eri on a disc which makes her embarassed. Eri was eager to know how life in Planet Mahl looks like so he showed a promotional disc to her. Planet Mahl is shaped like a soccer ball but the number of shapes in the planet is more than that of a soccer ball. In another story, Eri and her friends are busy completing their school assignment about their family's ancestor roots.

Episode 3: Eri wants to go for a vacation in Okinawa like how Sunemi and her parents did so she and Uchiki was brought to there through a teleport by Chimpui by holding his tail. The excessive use of teleporting by Chimpui makes his energy heavily decreased. In another story, Eri obtains power from Chimpui by making a trick to him.

Episode 4: Wanderyu meets with Uchiki and tests his bravery and wants him to avoid being friends with Eri to protect her future. (This is Wandayu of Indonesia's favourite story). In another story, Chimpui bought some special paper where Eri can write somebody's name to avoid being seen by the person she wrote on the paper. Wandayu wants to film Eri and Chimpui having an interaction between animals. Wanderyu also revealed that Chimpui dislikes cats because he is a mouse. It is almost similar to Doraemon dislikes mouse because he is a robot cat.

I want to make some thoughts about Chimpui. The anime is more like a shojo anime but has science fiction elements much like how animes based on manga series by Fujiko F. Fujio would do. I've once heard that it is the girls version of Doraemon. Its content is more targeted towards a goal, making preparations to meet Eri's future husband who is waiting far away in Planet Mahl in the nearest time. The royal family in Planet Mahl are married at the same age as Eri which is at childhood stage, unlike people who would marry at adult stage in earth.

Chimpui is the main character in the series with Wanderyu in between helping him. They are both alien creatures from Planet Mahl who are shaped like a mouse and a dog respectively. At first I thought that both characters can't speak like human and only cry out their name and Chimpui is more like a unique creature, but my predictions were false. Eri is the character who accompanies Chimpui in the series. Her characteristics can be compared with Nobita in Doraemon. She also has the habit of entering her house through the garden fence.

Eri's friend Uchiki in the terms of his zigzag hairstyle is like Takahata in Esper Mami and Gian in Doraemon. His characteristic is more like Dekisugi in Doraemon. The character Sunemi in the anime in terms of look and characteristic really resembles Suneo in Doraemon.

And about the airtime of Chimpui on Disney Channel Asia, I was glad that the channel was able to air repeats of Chimpui, not as I thought in my earlier blogposts. It would also be the first time in Malaysia a Fujiko anime that has repeats in supplement of the main broadcast (on a pay-TV, not including Doraemon movies, Ninja Hattori-kun and Monster Kid by Fujiko Fujio A which is re-run and repeated on Astro Ceria). The schedule as follows:

Monday to Friday: 8:30 am, 1:30 pm (main broadcast)
Saturday: 2:00 pm
Sunday: 6:00 am, 3:00 pm. 

Chimpui episode flow on Disney Channel Asia

Continuing from my previous blogpost, I wasn't really sure how the episode flow of Chimpui on Disney Channel Asia starting from last Thursday looks like (they repeat episode one on that day) until I watched today's Chimpui which was actually repeat of last Wednesday's episode three. I'm most sure that the channel will air episode four and the next one starting tomorrow onwards.

UPDATE at 12:30 pm November 20: A repeat broadcast of Chimpui has been added by Disney Channel Asia at 8:30 am. The current episode position is episode two and was started yesterday.

(This blogpost has to do with the scheduling of a TV programme and is not related to the programme's content)

Traffic-specialised radio station would be possible in Malaysia

PLUS Malaysia Berhad CEO Datuk Noorizah Abdul Hamid was featured on The Star today. She was talking about organising traffic information on its expressway network. PLUS collaborates with radio stations and relies on their goodwill to broadcast traffic updates provided by its personnel monitoring the traffic at Persada PLUS at Kelana Jaya. Noorizah says opening a radio station specialising on traffic information (traffic updates) is not part of the company's business but could consider setting up a radio station if the need arises. It must also involve other highway operators in the country besides PLUS. Meanwhile PLUS corporate communications head Mohd Nizam Ismail recommends to keep up to date with by following its twitter handles "@plustrafik" for traffic updates and "@KembaraPLUS" for highway users planning for travel and holiday.  

TV Alhijrah's 2nd year of broadcasting

Yesterday TV Alhijrah introduced a brand new presentation design for its 2nd anniversary which is more colourful but still retains its theme song.

Y.B. Mejar Jeneral Dato' Seri Jamil Khir bin Haji Baharom who is the Minister in the Prime Minister Department was also there in a ceremony commemorating TV Alhijrah's 2nd anniversary event that lasted for two hours between 8:30 and 10:30 pm. He also announced that TV Alhijrah will be expanded to Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor in January 2013. I believe that this will complete the nationwide terrestrial coverage of TV Alhijrah.

Complaining about the broadcast of Chimpui on Disney Channel Asia

Yesterday when I watched the premiere broadcast of the Chimpui anime on Disney Channel Asia, I thought that it will broadcast the first episode again just like what the channel did last Saturday and also episode two today, but they did the other way by just continue airing episode three instead of showing episode one and airing episode four and the next onwards starting today even though Chimpui now airs at a fixed airtime of Monday-Friday 1:30 pm, not as I was expected. Even worse, Chimpui airs an episode once and will not be repeated again, maybe. The channel does not want to give Chimpui the opportunity to air repeats after the first showing unlike other shows that are airing on the channel. Of course, TV channels that are not on the terrestrial platform has more opportunity to air repeats of their shows for the benefit of its audience, especially those who do not have a video recorder.

UPDATE at 2:53 pm: I watched Chimpui this afternoon on Disney Channel Asia and aired the first episode again, not another episode after episode three yesterday. I don't know what happens next tomorrow.

Maal Hijrah

Good morning everyone. Today is the first day of the Islamic calendar. It's 1 Muharram 1434AH. The first day of the Islamic calendar is celebrated by Muslims to commemorate the hijrah of Rasulullah SAW and his followers from Makkah to Madinah to spread the jihad and the teachings of Islam as guided by Allah SWT. The outcome from the Hijrah was the Madinah Charter which was the first written constitution in the world. The constitution was agreed together with the Muslims and non-Muslims in Madinah. Hijrah in today's context can also mean changing our ways, from being bad to be good in a more Islamic way.

In Malaysia, the Maal Hijrah is celebrated nationwide such as doing the prayers for the new year in the Islamic calendar which is called "doa akhir tahun" and "doa awal tahun" which is read before and after the Azan Maghrib. This practice was officially started during the Khalifah Umar Al-Khattab era.

I knew a lot about the Hijrah because this event was mentioned in the Sejarah textbook. Even when I first received the Sejarah Paper 3 paper a month ago, the question paper asked about Hijrah. So on this opportunity, I would like to say Selamat Maal Hijrah to all Muslims around the world.

Wandayu of Indonesia's thoughts about Chimpui

Today while I was surfing the internet I was busy searching for pictures about Chimpui on Google Search until I saw this blogpost made by Wandayu of Indonesia. She is talking about Chimpui, her favourite anime ("film kartun") that she watched at a time during her primary school days. Even her friends called her "Paman Wandayuu", after one of the characters in Chimpui. So this is probably the reason why the Wanderyu's blog is named. What a coincidence.  Paman here refers to grandfather in Indonesian language and also used as a name and its variations for males in Indonesia. The definition of the Paman name is not related to the anime Perman by Fujiko F. Fujio. (The name of Perman anime in Indonesia is changed to P-Man when it was shown there).

When she is 19, she surfed the internet to find pictures about Chimpui. She says that there are fewer threads that discuss about the anime. She also says that the pictures are almost like the Doraemon manga. She also made a synopsis about the anime. She says that the anime is about a girl named Kazuga Eri who is a tomboy. She likes to enter the house through the fence. One day, two aliens came to Eri's room to give a piece of news that she is selected to be the bride of Prince Lulealv from planet Mahl. But Eri didn't accept it. Because of that, Wanderyuu, a dog-shaped alien wanted Chimpui, a mouse-shaped alien to stay with Eri temporarily and at the same time agreed to marry the prince. Slowly they like each other as a friend because Chimpui always helps Eri.

Eri is also as lazy as Nobita in Doraemon and dislikes doing housewife chores. She has a good friend called Uchiki. He is poor in sports but she is as smart as Dekisugi in Doraemon.

Brief opinion about the usage of internet by the local media nowadays

Just took out some excerpts from my Facebook page where tonight I had expressed my opinion about the usage of internet by the local media nowadays.

1. Companies nowadays prefer to use social media more often than using only websites, especially Facebook. In my opinion, companies think that using facebook allows more interaction between the company and its customers rather than websites which is more one-sided.

2. I can already feel like local TV stations are too late to introduce a news website, unlike newspapers and news agencies where they have one each. RTM now has one, Media Prima has one too since 2011. Both stations have a few attempts to introduce a news website in the 2000s. Astro Awani prefers Facebook instead. 

3. (refrerring to the 1st paragraph above) When companies use Facebook more often, they will almost forget about their website. That's my opinion.

Terrestrial digital TV in Malaysia becomes very possible

Recently I was feeling excited because The Star reports that the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has shortlisted three companies i-Media, Puncak Semangat and Redtone for the digital terrestrial television broadcast (DTTB) infrastructure contract with the first rollout starting in early 2014. Three companies have been selected from the many companies whhich is under the Applicant Information Package. Then, the companies will have to submit a more detalied business plan within six months based on the original submission for the first round of evaluation. The results of the second round evaluation will be announced in July 2013 where only one company will be selected to make the DTTB roll out starting early 2014. By the end of 2015 there will be full nationwide coverage.

Summing up from the news report that I've read, there is a possibility that DTTB will arrive in Malaysia soon, not rumours that Malaysia will not have DTTB. Currently, digital TV is provided through satellite pay-TV provider Astro and several fibre-optic IPTV providers such as Hypp TV Unifi and Maxis Home.

A review about Chimpui

I've just watched one-hour premiere of Chimpui, the anime from the man behind Doraemon on Disney Channel Asia (Astro Ch 615). The one-hour premiere which aired at 2:00 pm today is the first showing of the first two episodes that will be airing at a regular airtime starting Nov 14 at 1:30 pm. This is the first time a Fujiko anime is airing on a pay-TV in Malaysia. The anime which is broadcast on this channel is dubbed in English, Malay and Chinese (in my country), especially for the opening and ending songs which were all dubbed. I watched the whole thing in English.

I first knew about Chimpui on the internet when I saw some excerpts of the Chimpui manga posted by a Japanese blogger named Sukoshi Fushigi. Chimpui originally appeared as a manga series in 1985. It later became an anime series in 1989. So I probably have some knowledge about that before the anime was broadcast in my country.

The story of Chimpui begins when a group of creatures Chimpui annd Wanderyu the dog from planet Mahl selected a girl named Eri-chan to become the bride of a prince. The ending of the story was Chimpui finished up Eri-chan's housechores by saying "Chimpui", his catchprase or a spell, I think

The second story introduces to a new character called Uchiki, Eri-chan's friend. Eri-chan didn't like Uchiki being busy playing with baseball that his friends forced (Uchiki's friends' faces look more like Gian and Suneo). Then Chimpui casts a spell by having rain on Uchiki's friends to interrupt the game. Later, Uchiki met with Eri-chan again. Uchiki was fascinated watching Chimpui because he has never seen an alien like this before. Back at home, Eri-chan was worried about her reactions about Chimpui to her mother. Uchiki knows that Eri-chan's mother has weakness too which is does not like to have pets at home. He gave her a good idea by pretending Chimpui as a stuffed toy to Eri-chan's mother. In the last scene, Eri-chan prepared some ramen to Chimpui which would later became Chimpui's favourite food. Thinking of Doraemon likes dorayaki and Korosuke likes korokke. (When I first wrote this blogpost I thought that Chimpui's favourite food was introduced in the first story, I later corrected because it was wrong).

In episode two, the first story is about Wanderyu paying a visit to Eri-chan to watch a promotional disc about the life at planet Mahl. Planet Mahl is shaped like a soccer ball but it is pink in colour.

The second story is about Eri-chan's friends are getting busy completing their assigment on finding their family history. I also saw Suneo-lookalike girl. The ending of the story is a bit complicated.

(Revised on November 11 and 16)

TV Alhijrah expands to Kelantan and cooperates with Peace TV

TV Alhijrah's terrestrial transmissions have been expanded to Kelantan today, according to blogger Aku Pasrah. It broadcasts using UHF channel 48. The transmission site is at Menara TM, Telipot, Kelantan, shared with several free-to-air TV stations in the site. Some months ago, TV Alhijrah had started broadcasting to the states of Kedah and Perak. Meanwhile, the blogger says that TV Alhijrah started cooperating with Peace TV, an Islamic satellite TV channel, to broadcast programmes from Peace TV in the Bicara Tonight slot. Programmes that will be broadcast include "ceramahs" from Zakir Naik Malaysian Tour 2012 (according to TV Alhijrah's official website), Yusuf Estes (who has appeared on Tell Us About Islam, a children's show on Astro Oasis) and Abdur Raheem Green. Berita Harian reports that TV Alhijrah will extend broadcasting hours to 2:00 am starting November 15 in conjunction with TV Alhijrah's 2nd anniversary.

(Revised on November 11)

Moretsu-kai in Kiteretsu and Chimpui will air on Malaysian TV

Today I've found two things around the Fujiko anime genre. The first one is in Kiteretsu on TV3 where there is a new character called Moretsu-sai. He was once a good friend of Kiteretsu since their youth years while studying at Nagasaki, creating new things together, until Moretsu-sai saw Kiteretsu-sai making a robot that would be called Korosuke. This causes Moretsu-sai to start disliking Kiteretsu-sai's inventions, so he build his own robot called Koronoshin. The robot is more powerful than Korosuke. The below picture is the ancestor of Moretsu-sai and Koronoshin in the episode.

Meanwhile after I watched Kiterestu I suddenly saw a promo for a Fujiko anime called "Chimpui". It will be airing on Disney Channel Asia (Astro Channel 615) on November 14 at 1:30 pm. I was extremely excited because this would be the first time a Fujiko anime will be airing on a Malaysian pay TV channel. More than that, it airs for the whole Southeast Asian region because of their coverage. Even more importantly, this is the first time a Fujiko anime will be broadcast English-dubbed. The preceeding Fujiko animes (Doraemon, Perman and Kiteretsu) have been aired on free-to-air TV while Fujiko Fujio A's animes (Ninja Hattori-kun and Kaibutsu-kun) have also formerly aired on free-to-air TV and on Astro Ceria.

It's already November!

Hi everyone! It's already November. The year-end exams at my school is over and the last paper for the exam was Sejarah Paper 3 (History subject). It's an open-book test with where candidates at have to prepare materials such as Sejarah text book and reference books related to a question related based on a topic in Sejarah given a month before the exam as an assignment beforehand. The year-end exams happened throughout the month of October and I was busy with it.

With the end of the year-end exams, I can now relax a bit and enjoy my school holidays. I've missed a lot of shows that I REALLY want to watch. What I mean is the shows that only stream on the internet but not airing on local TV such as the Kaibutsu-kun drama and the ongoing anime Uchu Kyodai. But I can still catch up on shows that are aired on local free-to-air TV such as Perman and Kiteretsu.  Besides, I can also find anything interesting and learning more on the internet. And I can spend more time writing my thoughts and also my interests on my blog too!

Oh wait, my parents have planned something for this school holidays, like going for a holiday. This weekend me and my younger brother will be going to Melaka with NASOM students. And also, my father is going to climb Mount Kinabalu next month, so he is going to make his body in good shape.

Starting next year I will be taking SPM exams. So that means I have to be more serious with studies. I'll start going to tution next month.

That's all for my blogpost for today. See you soon!

Kagemaki Kagezou, Sumire no sweet magic and cherry_drops' 008man

This week I have seen what my Japanese Twitter friends are doing with Perman.

The first one is about Kagemaki Kagezou. His name is a variation of "Kemumaki" and "Kanzo (Hattori)" from Ninja Hattori-kun. He is formerly known as KAGE64. He is a high school student who I have been friends on Twitter. His favourite characters on Perman are Copy Mitsuo (his face is same as Mistuo Suwa but he has a red nose and acts as a relief to Mitsuo Suwa to keep his identity as Perman) and his girlfriend Yuki-chan. He opened up his Perman-related website called "Perwatch Hoso Kyoku" and "Copy Yuki". He made a collaboration with Chima-san and Milkcocoa on the F-chaser website. Recently after seeing comparisons of his drawing styles, I didn't realise that Kagemaki Kagezou was in fact the man who was formerly known as KAGE64, not a new man as I thought. His drawing style has changed a lot.  

The second one is about a new friend that I've found who is "Sumire no sweet magic". The friend that I first found on a blog link made by cherry_drops and also on Twitter is a school student and also a fan of Perman. I'm not sure whether the friend I found is a he or a she, but I'm sure it's a he. His favourite characters are Mitsuo and Sumire where he says that both are perfect couples. I'm thinking of the same too.

The last one is about cherry_drops' 008man that I have blogged a few days ago. She has made the 008man story based on the "Zero Zero Perman" story in the Perman manga and reminds to read the "Zero Zero Perman" story first before reading her story which is part of her "two-dimensional novel"
 stories. "Two-dimensional novel" (as how I translated from Japanese) is a Japanese term which I think it roughly means fan fiction in English.

(Small revision made on January 5 2013)

@cherry_drops123's 008 man and her Perman drawings scrapbook

This week @cherry_drops123 has drawn a Perman parody of James Bond called "008man" and posted on Pixiv. She reminded that the story where Perman appeared this way is in a Perman manga story called "Zero Zero Perman". Meanwhile, @cherry_drops123 also prepared her drawings of Perman on paper on a scrapbook, as seen on her blog post on her blog. I think she likes them very much.

Arabic writing used by Malaysian TV stations for Aidiladha

Recently I've seen two TV stations using Arabic writing to promote their programme line-up for the Aidiladha festive period. A really rare opportunity to see local TV stations using Arabic writing for branding. The first one is from TV Alhijrah, which uses the slogan "Al-Adha Kembara Suci" for Aidiladha. There are some differences; in 2011, TV Alhijrah writes "Al-Adha" in Arabic writing which means Aidiladha in Arabic, but this year it has minor changes to the logo. "Al-Adha" is now written in Roman writing. Just a quick note, the theme song for TV Alhijrah's Aidiladha festive branding is Waiting for the Call by Irfan Makki. You can watch the video I linked below.

Moving on to TV9. TV9 reuses its Aidiladha branding but this one is strictly used only promos related to Aidiladha-themed programmes. It also uses Jawi writing, a variation of the Arabic writing. At first I thought it was written as "Akhlahr" but my grandfather pointed out that it was written as "Ikhlas". I was wrong because I read the Jawi letters the wrong way because I read alif as "a", not "i" and "ha" and "ro", not "s". Even the voiceovers have said that in the promos many times.  

(Updated October 25)

Softbank - a Japanese company

This morning I read an interesting news report on The Star Online. Japan has a rather big entrepreneur company similar to Richard Branson's Virgin. Softbank is a big Japanese company owned by Masayoshi Son. He is born to Korean parents in south-western Japan. His company has acquired small companies and owns a majority share on big companies. His business focus is on mobile Internet. It is currently the second-largest telecom company in Japan.

Taizo Son, Son's younger brother says that his brother "won't enter other sectors such as a coke or airlines" as Branson would do. The similarity between Son and Branson was claimed by Masashi Oda, equity chief investment officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Investment Trust, where he founds out that "they fight government regulation and expand businesses by lowering business prices". The proof - Softbank offers Internet services by lowering telecom charges in 2000 and sells smartphones by selling the iPhone in 2008. Softbank is the first telecom company in Japan to offer iPhone until KDDI added iPhone in 2011.

Masayoshi Son doesn't like nuclear energy since earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster hit Japan in 2011. He also owns Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, a baseball team also an avid Twitter user. He is also speedy in decision making, making him very different than a traditional Japanese executive, as claimed by a Japanese banker who has met with Son several times.

Besides mobile internet business, Softbank is also doing energy business. SB Energy Corp is currently building Japan's biggest solar power plant.

Government initiative related programmes on TV3

Two new programmes, both related to Malaysian government, are airing on TV3 right now.

"Doktor Muda", a local children's show, airs every Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 am. It is hosted by Nabil, a local actor of the Raja Lawak Astro fame, and produced by Bahagian Pendidikan Kesihatan of the Ministry of Health. It is about a Malaysian government's initiative where the Ministry of Health has established a co-curricular association (persatuan ko-kurikulium) called Doktor Muda, which is aimed towards primary school pupils. The purpose was to educate pupils to have a healthy life. The mascots for the show was designed by Animasia Studios, the animation studio behind Bola Kampung, judging from the design of the mascots.

Another show which is related to Malaysian government's initiative is DIY (Dengan Inovasi Yo!), which is airs every Friday at 6:30 pm. The show started earlier in late September 2012. It is produced by Garang Pictures. The show is part of an initiative which is 2012 as the year of science and innovation by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.The show targets secondary school students, despite being part of Bananana block which is a kids block. The show takes a different approach where there is a different host for a different state. Each host represent their place of birth, for example, in the first episode aired on 21 September 2012, Soo Wincci is in Ipoh, Perak where she was born. In the next episode onwards, the show goes to a different state with a different host and so on. In each episode's hosts' place of births too, the show focuses on four teams innovating products from a common object that the hosts' place of births' states belong to. Among the four teams, one team with the best innovative product will be selected for the national finals.

I have my very own laptop for the first time

Today my father gave me a brand new HP Mini laptop. The laptop is a present to me from my parents because of my success in PMR. It's not as big as a normal laptop but I love it.

It's October already!

Five days has passed since the start of October. This month and next month is also the examination season for most secondary school students. What I mean is the PMR, SPM and STPM exams just before the year-end school holidays.

For two weeks starting next Tuesday my second brother will have his PMR examinations (the Penilaian Menengah Rendah, the examinations in the lower secondary school before going to upper secondary school). While for me, I'll have my four-week year-end exam starting on the same day as my second brother's. Before that, as usual, revisions for my year-end exam. The interesting part for my year-end exam will be the Sejarah Kertas 3 (History subject) where candidates have to refer to the Sejarah textbook while making a guided-written outline for a topic in the Sejarah subject. The Kertas 3 is introduced for SPM 2013 because the Ministry of Education believes that many SPM candidate have failed in the subject. The ministry wants all SPM candidates to pass in Bahasa Malaysia and Sejarah in 2013. My school has introduced the Sejarah Kertas 3 paper for this year-end exam to test us, the candidates for SPM 2013 for next year's subject paper test.

This week I've read the news about Malaysia-Egypt relations and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and his wife on an official visit to Japan. Speaking about foreign relations, my interest in foreign relations of Malaysia had started when I read an article in The Star Online about Malaysia-China bilateral relations in August 2012. I became really keen on this matter because I really like to know about how Malaysia interacts with other countries while I was keen on knowing other countries on the internet even though I've never going out of Malaysia before. Since then, I've been making edits on a Wikipedia article named "Foreign relations of Malaysia". What I did is, whenever I read a recent article about relations between Malaysia and a foreign country in a newspaper, I would make edits in the article.

Theory of the name "Bisho Toshihiko" in Perman

This is a follow-up to an earlier blogpost, "Bisho Toshihiko - a character in Perman and a question in Ask John".

Yesterday, after reading @cherry_drops123 tweet about Bisho's name that it is an uncommon name in Japan, I later realised that his name matches how he looks like in person.

His surname, Bisho ( 美庄), represents the first two characters of "Bishonen" ( 美庄年), a Japanese word for a beautiful-looking man, distinguishing from "Bishojo", another word which means beautiful-looking woman.

His first name is Toshihiko (年彦). The first character of his name is taken from the last character of the latter, but the pronouciation is changed from "(bisho)nen" to "toshi'. Toshi is another word for year in Japanese, the first was "nen". The last character of his name his "hiko", the suffix for boys' names. Reminds me of Yuzuhiko, a character in Atashinchi.