Teohlogy: The Word According to Patrick Teoh

Title/Author: Teohlogy: The Word According to Patrick Teoh
Publisher: ZI Publications
No. of Pages: 303
ISBN 13: 978-967-5266-15-7
Price: RM38

In a nutshell
(Tiru-ed (copied) from back cover synopsis) With his trademark razor-sharp wit, Teoh in his aptly-named Teohlogy (Elaine, hats off to you! I thought the name was brilliant! :D) articles, previously published in the now defunct Off The Edge (OTE) magazine (I missed you :( *sob* Jason Tan, I thought you and your team did one helluva good job!) from the years 2005 to 2010, shares his views on Malaysian life, topical affairs and issues that concern the ordinary Malaysian, with a generous sprinkling of realism, humour and provocation. (TAKE NOTE! For mature audience only....)

What I liked
Firstly, it has to be the cover! I thought it was a pure work of genius. First, it's so 'Patrick' (to me and my hubby lah at least). Second, it sets the tone of the book. Third, creative :) I usually get quite turned off seeing the author's profile pic, all perfect and poised, smacked right on the cover, but this one...this is the first one that I'd proudly hold in my hands and don't mind reading it in public LOL

Secondly, and most importantly, the articles, because behind its humour and seem-to-be-toking kok articles, there's truth in them. Since they were written way back in 2005, you'll realise that 'Wow,...we haven't changed much!' Whatever mentioned here 5 years ago still hold true today! Sadly funny or funny, sadly; however you wanna put it, but true. See if you agree:

1) Dirty toilets (Getting a good, workable AND clean toilet here in Malaysia is like finding a needle in a haystack)
2) Water which still needs to be filtered (we pay to get clean water; water that we can drink right from the tap, but what do we get? Sigh)
3) Unscrupulous cabbies (the article Patrick Teoh read at his launch, Edible Unity, pg. 207)
4) Our nonchalant approach to emergencies; when an emergency is termed as 'When the patient stops breathing.' (Relek Ah Beb, pg. 101) You see, we only 'care' when people die. The more people die, the more we "care" (Handicapped Care, pg. 13). Yours truly, is guilty as charged. If not for TBH's case, I wouldn't be reading about politics. If not for Altantuyaa's death, I wouldn't have started caring for the state of our country.

But some things have changed, as highlighted in Growing Up, pg. 154 (one of my many favourite articles in this collection). We...
1) have lost our sense of humour
2) are becoming more sensitive (in a negative sort of way)
3) are now Malay, Chinese, Indians, or Lain-Lain (others) as opposed to Malaysians

The best place to read Teohlogy is under a coconut tree with your other friends who also like to sit under a coconut tree, drink and tokkok (Sorry-Ah Boss, pg. 109). Then you can read one chapter, or two or more, then sit longer and tok more kok. Summon enough rage and courage, then stand up, walk away from the coconut tree, then do something about all the kok you've talked about under the coconut tree with your friends and Patrick Teoh. Vote, voice your opinion, join rallies (those which fight for a good cause and talk sense one lah of course), then ask them all to buy Teohlogy.

As you read the articles, you'd notice that many are kinda linked to each other, or rather 'hovering' over similar issues, because why? Because we never change. That's why Patrick even thanked all YBs of Malaysia for providing him with ideas for Teohlogy! If not for them, we won't have entertainment LOL

I have to admit, I'm not much of a magazine person, so I only purchased OTE when it has various interesting topics in one issue. So, I am so darn thankful that I can now read all of Patrick Teoh's articles in a book! (Btw, ZI Publications, are you planning to do the same with Farish A. Noor's articles too? I'm a big fan of his as well hehe I'm sure when that happens, it would be a big hit too! :D)

Once again, kudos to Chin Yew for his great illustrations! Not easy work, I know ;)

And kudos to ZI Publications for work well done (again!)! Good job on the glossary too :)

My verdict? 4/5 (Cured my Monday blues ;))

My letter to Patrick Teoh...
Dear Patrick,

On a very blue Monday afternoon, I did what I usually do when feeling blue, log on to your blog, http://www.niamah.com/. To my horror, THERE WEREN'T ANY NEW POSTS!!! Then another day, the same thing. Then another. I forgot how long but 3 days was already too much. WHERE ARE YOU?! I DEMAND TO BE ENTERTAINED! So. I tweet-ed you and asked why was your blog not updated?? I wasn't expecting any replies, 'coz I know you're a celebrity and have thousands of followers. Where got time to entertain one small fry like me, right?

But I was wrong. You replied! And ever so polite some more! I was shocked. Plus, I wasn't the only one who was asking you about it LOL! So you see what happens when you go MIA? You have to answer to all of us loyal fans haha So, Patrick, please don't go MIA on us again! If you plan to, please tell us in advance lah ok... hehe

Oh, and...Patrick, you rocked your book launch! I think Jason Tan should learn to speak like you haha But then again, there is and will only be one Patrick Teoh in this world :))

And....thank you for signing my copy!

Thank you ZI Publications for sending me a copy of this much-loved book :))

Oh...! Oh! Guess what I found in MPH recently?? Drum roll please....

woooooo ahhhh......








(All pictures courtesy of Benny Khoo)