Gripevine

Barack Obama ain't the only one capable of ushering in the winds of change. Anyone can do it! Twenty two year old Molly Katchpole did just that when she made Bank of America remove a US$5 monthly debit card fee it was planning to charge its' customers. How did she do it? When Katchpole who works two part-time jobs in Washington D.C. heard about the yearly US$60 increase, she turned to Change.org - an online platform that enables people to initiate campaigns for social change. What she did: Wrote an open letter to Bank of America to withdraw the fee. The letter went viral. Closed her account with Bank of America. Cut up her debit card on camera. Moved her money to a community bank. After one month and 306,000 signatures later, Katchpole succeeded. Bank of America removed the charge on  November 1. Other top national banks have also scrapped plans for a similar fee. Katchpole's success is a sign of the times. Can you imagine any other era in whi...

This monkey apparently went to the rescue of a puppy during a pipeline explosion in Nanjing, China. The image was posted on Twitter. However reports have surfaced that the photo above has been circulating on the net since 2006. True or not true, animals have been known to watch out for each other and even nurture a cub from another species. Recently a neighbour of ours moved out. The sad thing is that he left his two dogs behind. A pair of cross-breed German Shepherd dogs. For a couple of days they wandered about the neighbourhood, a woman who lives a few doors away and my mum would feed them. Three days after they were left to fend for themselves, people from the Veterinary Services Department came to take them away. We don't live in a dog friendly neighbourhood. The thing is, though the official story is that dogs who are taken away are put to sleep - via injection. The unofficial story is far different. Most of these dogs who are abandoned and the many strays usual...

The face of journalism as we know it is changing. News organisations and governments no longer get to decide what we know and what we don't. Who or what brought about this emancipation? Technology in the form of smart gadgets and social media with its unprecedented reach. In fact we now live in an era where the power of independent journalism is giving established news organisations a run for their money. For one who was a reporter with such a media group, I say this is good news! I don't know how it is done in other countries. But here in Malaysia, if we are dealing with - The private scandal of a politician from the ruling party, something that makes an opposition politician look good, racially tinged issues and epidemics to quote a few, there is usually a certain amount of filtering that is done before the news reaches the public. It has been a few years since I left journalism, so I don't know to what extent things have changed. It must have, at least a little...

It was a big day for Bollywood yesterday, or for Bollywood fans at least when the reigning queen of Indian cinema Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was finally delivered of a baby girl. A big day and a big deal because speculation has been rife on when Ash would become a mum since she married Abhishek way back in 2007. Ash was admitted to the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai on Monday night. She went into labour at 4am on Wednesday and delivered about  six hours after. Ever since Ash got pregnant, all sorts of stories appeared in the Indian press with regards to the gender of her yet to be born child. Some said it would be twin girls, others said it would be a boy and had to be a boy because father in-law Amitabh Bachchan required a male heir to continue his family dynasty. There was even one strange story about her visiting a fertility clinic in Bangkok to sort of um.....ensure that the baby would be male. Well so much for all those stories! The baby is finally here and it is a gi...

There is no age limit to being stylish and fashionable. One's fashion sense does not melt away into the sunset after 50. Plus there's absolutely no rule that says a woman in her 60s or 70s who has grandchildren must stop wearing make-up, painting her nails and wearing lovely clothes. Way too often have I heard the common refrain: " So old already why must dress up, who is going to look at us?" or "Already a grandmother, why want to do all this some more...." Said in typical Malaysian lingo of course! First of all, I don't get the concept of dressing up for other people. When you look good, you feel good, it is as simple as that. It is not about the number of people who might stop by to lavish you with compliments. It is about making a statement about who you are - someone who believes in looking good by wearing clothes that compliment her. Forget the white streaks in your hair, those faint lines on your face. Clothes, shoes and accessories don...

The other day my mum who was reading news alerts on her mobile asked me, "Hei have you heard about this festival - ' Seksualiti Merdeka '......?" And I was like: "Seksualiti what....??" Then I promptly googled it and oh then I knew! My first reaction? I was mighty impressed that we actually have such a festival here and wondered how come I never knew about it before this. I'm sure a lot of you out there are hearing about Seksualiti Merdeka for the first time too. But imagine this guys, if the powers that be didn't go all frothy at the mouth and decide to ban it, would the majority of us even know about this annual sexuality rights festival that has been around since 2008? Now not only city folks know all about Seksualiti Merdeka, even those in Baling......where is that again? Are up in arms about this event which they fear will encourage more gayness in society......well people will always delude themselves silly if they want to. So what...

Do you know that many individuals in the Twitter universe have brought about great change by the power of a single tweet? Considering that a tweet cannot exceed 140 characters, that's pretty awesome stuff! To highlight the stories of these folks and to inspire others to do the same, Twitter on Tuesday (November 1) launched Twitter Stories - A site for Twitter users to share their experiences of how their one tweet brought about meaningful change. Each month Twitter will share a new collection of stories. Here's a snapshot of a few stories from the first series: stories.twitter.com A Life Saved One man tweeted - "Sh*t I need a kidney". In just a few days, 19 people responded and a match was eventually found. The Power of Marketing  How Japanese fishermen use Twitter to sell their catch even before returning to shore. Public Transportation Woes Frustrated about the lack of information on trains, Ravi Pina created a system for commuters to get a...

Howdy folks! Hope everyone has sufficiently recovered from their Halloween revelry. Last week I began a series of posts on Halloween. It was kind of a Gripevine Bumper Issue on all things associated with this "Dark Festival". For those of you who didn't manage to catch my postings as they appeared, here are the links to it  - all in one post for your belated reading pleasure :) Halloween Fashion!! http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-cover-looks.html Claws or Nails? http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-evil-with-those-nails.html Halloween Recipes http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2011/10/yummy-halloween-food.html When it gets spooky.............. http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2011/10/witching-hour.html The Origins of Halloween http://jothijeyasingam.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-post.html

A long time ago, before Christianity, before Christmas, the western world was as pagan as could be. They had hundreds of gods, who sometimes had to be appeased with blood sacrifices no less. Their religion was Druidism, and it held particular sway among the Celts - the people of Ireland, Britain and northern Europe. Though the gods of the Celts have been ignored for centuries now, one particular tradition survived the coming of Christianity and is today one of the most celebrated festivals in Europe and America after Xmas. We call it Halloween and associate it with fun and partying. But in those days, it was a solemn affair honouring the dead. The Celts called it Samhain ( pronounced as Sahween) on October 31 which marked the end of Summer and the beginning of winter on November 1. They believed that during this time, the division between our world and the realm of spirits lie open - enabling the souls of the dead and other supernatural beings to walk the earth. Besides t...

When I was a kid, I assumed witching hour means the time when witches left their homes and zoomed about on their broomsticks. The other day I decided to do a little Googling to find out what the term really meant, and it appears I was about half right. Coz witches are not the only ones who come out during that potent time of the night. Popular belief has it that ghosts, demons, and other strange otherworldly creatures also make their appearance after the clock strikes 12 midnight, which officially signifies the start of witching hour. Many people believe that black magic is at its' most powerful during this time. If you have watched many spooky movies like me, I'm sure you'll remember that the demons, zombies, and other creatures of the dark usually make their appearance around this hour to plague their victims. So it is kinda generally accepted that bad things usually happen during this time. In The Exorcism of Emily Rose however, the term witching hou...

If you're gonna throw a party this All Hallow's Eve, my suggestion is to go all out! Let there be eyeballs floating in your punch bowl, a generous drizzle of blood atop your caramel pudding, rotting fingers protruding  from your chicken pie........get the picture? Well here's a couple of stomach churning images to get you started. These blogs and websites show you how to dish up a feast worthy of the undead! http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/holidays-and-events/halloween/main.aspx http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-recipes/ http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/holidays-and-entertaining/holidays/halloweencentre/tophalloweenrecipes.aspx http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/halloween+recipes http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/hal

Whether you're a witch, werewolf or some nocturnal creature or another, your prey will not be convinced that you mean business until they see your nails. Yes folks, it's those claws and talons of yours that will serve to strike terror into the hearts of your victims! Here are some pretty ghoulish looks worth considering this Halloween season.

Hollywood movies provide oodles of style inspiration when it comes to choosing a costume for Halloween. Especially the movies of Tim Burton. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland in particular have done much to inspire the fashion world. Here are several fashionable takes from these two movies which can serve as style ideas for this coming Halloween! The Demon with the white streak................ Gothic Helena What Fashion made of it............ Alice in Fashion Depp goes Mad   Red & White........the Queens