Two discoveries this week:

The stall across the road sells breakfast kuih. I have only just become aware of this. They're 50 cents each, and they're delicious. I have every intention of incorporating them into my Monday routine from now on.

And I learned that "Hainan toast" refers to something made with soft, fluffy Hainan bread. It doesn't necessarily feature condensed milk, as I had mistakenly thought, but can come with kaya and butter.

A good example was provided by the Aku Cafe. (This is the place where we originally found out about butoh, and where this week we bought tickets for more.)





Divali is still with us, in the form of laddoos from a colleague, and seasonal movies.

Such as Secret Superstar, which I thought was a terrific movie.

The plot revolves around a young woman who wants to become a famous singer/songwriter. This provides a useful context for lots of great songs.

The would-be star is called Insia, a name that means "woman". And in wrestling with the patriarchal obstacles that threaten to block her dreams, she does represent many of the struggles of her gender.

The movie makes no bones about dealing with difficult issues like domestic violence and female abortion. But it does it delicately. It's not a dark movie, and you end up really liking and respecting the female characters, who all, in their different ways, fight back against the bullying monster that overshadows their lives. I especially liked the little domestic scenes, as mother and daughter watch TV or have fun with the new laptop.

And, as this review puts it: "When the protagonist breaks free, you find yourself simultaneously wiping your tears and doing a victory lap." How many homes around the world house a secret superstar, who never gets the acclamation she should?

Another memorable musical story was captured in "One Thousand Million Smiles: A Musical Tribute to Sudirman", staged at KLPAC.

I found the performance very moving.

Sudirman Arshad died 25 years ago in his late thirties.

He was born in Temerloh, was a qualified lawyer, and became a massive symbol of national pride.

We first came across his name via the infographics that went up in Chow Kit half-way through last year. A couple of these featured Sudirman's concert in Chow Kit Road in 1986, which drew an unprecedented 100,000-strong crowd, and brought KL to a standstill. The Chow Kit Road song is bouncy and spunky, just like the locality it portrays.





But Sudirman also has an Auckland connection. This was where, in 1984, he narrowly failed to meet Freddie Mercury, one of his favourite entertainers.

Perhaps most famously, the "singing lawyer" played at the Royal Albert Hall in 1989, where he won the Asia Music Awards with the heart-felt One Thousand Million Smiles.

Some of the music was strangely familiar. I'd obviously heard it during my time in Malaysia without being aware of its provenance.

Without doubt, he wrote some fabulous songs. And his voice (as I've discovered through a lengthy foray into Youtube) is quite haunting.

Truly, a biopic would be a great idea.