My Alexa Traffic Rank

After 2 months, since my first post “Hello World!” on August 28th, 2008, my Alexa traffic rank now has gone below 1 million mark. Woot!!.

To all readers, thank you very much for all your support! This will surely motivates me to post more quality content and valuable information on this site.
Thank you all. 😀

Open House (Rumah Terbuka)

From wiki:

An open house (or “rumah terbuka”) is a Malaysian concept whereby people celebrating various holidays will invite friends to drop by for festive snacks and fellowship.

Eid ul-Fitr (Hari Raya Aidilfitri):

Eid ul-Fitr or Id-ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر ‘Īdu l-Fiṭr‎), often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”, while Fiṭr means “to break the fast” (and can also mean “nature”, from the word “fitrah”); and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. It is celebrated starting on the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal.

To fellow families, friends, relatives, colleagues, ex-colleagues, neighbors, bloggers, etc, and basically everybody who dropped by on Saturday, thanks a million!
Pics courtesy of azlan.anilezfa.com

Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love)

I HATE reading novels. God only knows how I hate reading them, especially the ones that has words like “Love” or “Cinta” stamped to the title. However, the LOVE of MY life (my dearest wife, of course) is an avid novel reader. She just crazy about novels, and she keeps on pushing me to read this particular book:

Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love) by Habibburahman El Shirazy.

I finally succumbs to her persuasion…
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… and then I read the novel …
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… TWICE !! …
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There! I’ve said it. (There goes my emotionless, prosaic, repressed image that most men would like to keep). But it just simply that good. After finished reading it, I’ve realized it’s not your typical love story at all!

The story actually is more about Islam, and full of Islamic values that can be learned. There’s so many positive reviews (spoiler alert) of this novel, and some even calls it as a soul builder. I still remember there’s one night, I picked up the book at 11 p.m., and still continues reading it up until 6 a.m. in the morning. It’s just that hard to put it back down once you’ve started reading it.

A Little Background
Title : Ayat-ayat Cinta
Author : Habiburrahman El Shirazy
Publisher (Malaysia) : Al-Risalah Product Sdn Bhd
Genre : Novel
Pages : 510 pages
ISBN : 9832672368

Ayat-Ayat Cinta Malaysia Cover Ayat-ayat cinta cover
Malaysian Cover Indonesian Cover (Original)

– Winner of PENA AWARD NOVEL TERPUJI NASIONAL 2005 (Indonesia)
– Winner of “THE MOST FAVOURITE BOOK” 2005 (Indonesia)
It’s one of the best selling novel in Indonesia, with 160,000 copies in three years.

A Short Synopsis
The story follows a character named Fahri, a student at the Al-Azhar University, Cairo. It guides us through the situations and lives of Indonesian students in Egypt. It also tells us a story of a relationship of two families that inside we can find the tolerance between Muslims and Coptical Christian (a part of Christianity that been followed by peoples at Egypt).

The Motion Picture
Following the huge success of the book, a movie of the same title by Hanung Bramantyo starred by Fedi Nuril, Rianti R. Cartwright, Carissa Putri Melanie Putria, and Zaskia Adya Mecca, was released on February 28, 2008 in Indonesia, May 8, 2008 in Singapore, and June 19, 2008 in Malaysia. Malaysian Television, TV3, shows the motion picture on it’s channel on October 10th, 2008, the 10th day of Shawwal.
Ayat-ayat cinta movie

In it’s opening weekend, Ayat-Ayat Cinta grossed RM 3.6 million in Indonesia, and grossed $39.882 million in 5 theaters in Singapore, ranking at #8 and averaged an estimated $7,976 per theater. In Malaysia, the movie grossed $15.521 million in 22 theaters, ranking at #11 and averaged an estimated $706 per theater.

However, please bear in mind that the movie has quite a different theme and focus from the book. It’s probably intentional, and it’s not easy to cramp 500+ pages of a book to 2 hour movie. The book has more detailed and different approach on it’s story and purpose.

Original Soundtrack of “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” the movie below for your enjoyment. Sure sets the mood right and give it “feel”. 🙂
(BTW, anybody got a good guitar tabs/chords on this one, gimme a shout).

Ayat-Ayat Cinta by Rossa (Credit to rilham2new).

The RAHMAN Theory

Have you ever heard of the RAHMAN theory? According to this so-called theory, the first six prime ministers of Malaysia will be in the order of the first prime minister’s name, as follows:

  • Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj
  • Tun Abdul Razak
  • Tun Hussein Onn
  • Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
  • Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
  • Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak?

Or, if events are to follow a certain individual’s plan, would it become the RAHMAT theory instead? The rumour is strong enough for a specific denial to be issued … 🙂