New Intern Colleagues We received 2 new intern students recently, they're real nice people. One of them, Jason, knows my mum's friend and it's such a small world to be working together. The other, Jessie (hehe now there are 2 Jessies) is all cute and sweet and she can get really hyper (like yours truly) so it's really fun having her around. The thing about interns is that they only work for 2 months and before you know it you'll be sad that they're leaving. Oh well, I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts...
New Rubber Finally got the 155's tyres changed~ A belated birthday present from my mum, the new rubbers finally replace the ones which were purchased with my 1st pay! Although after being a long-time Falken loyalist, I switched to the Yokohama A-Drive due to the high price of the current Falken Azenis ST115 replacement, the FK-452. Well, since Yokohamas are competitors with Yokohama, I guess it shouldn't be too bad. Although it isn't as pretty as the Azenis, the A-Drive supposedly gives better comfort and ride. And true enough, upon driving on the new rubber, the 1st thing noticeable was the smoother ride. It was so cool... all this time the car shuddered under rough roads, but now it feels a lil better. Perhaps it's because the Azenis was a sports tyre, but could also be caused by them being old.
A Falken Azenis ST115 when it was new in 2005:
A worn-out Falken Azenis ST115 in 2008:
A new Yokohama A-Drive:
Also got the 155 its 1st polish since getting its new coat of paint. Persuaded the car wash dude to extend the Raya promotional price of RM60 (compared to the usual RM80). The results were really good, with it looking ridiculously shiny at noon. Even Joseph said the police would saman, saying it "menghalang penglihatan".
Some pics of the polished ride, with new A-Drives...
Been looking at things positively of late. Well, numerous things haven't been goin well during the last couple of months, there were a few setbacks but I'm not about to let them bring me down. I'm gonna be upbeat bout everything now, I'm gonna work even harder for my goals and I'm hoping for the best. Things seem to appear better, you get joy from the simplest of things and, the bad don't affect you as much as they used to and even people feel happier. Let's just hope I can keep this up~
What is it with the number 10 today? Well it's the 10th of October, which happens to be the 10th month. That makes 10-10. Then when I went for the press screening of Max Payne, the hall number is 10. Now it's 10-10-10. Must be a lucky number for today. Somehow things that happened today are all so nice. The people I meet, the stuff I purchased, stuff I replaced (Well, my 2GB memory stick broke. Bummer...), the tako balls I had for lunch, the kimchi noodles after that and nice movie btw, review coming up soon. And well, some other stuff happened today making it a feel-good day for me. Just hope this stays through the whole weekend. Now if only this cold would go away...
There was a story of a boy, who wished to win the heart of a girl. He did everything and whatever he could to get to know the person he cared so much about, without knowing that day by day, he's actually getting himself in too deep. Until one day, the painful truth hurt him, and it really hurt him so bad. Confused and dazed, all he could do was to keep it all inside, be happy with what he had achieved so far, be a friend to the one he loved, trust God in making the best decision for him, and live life to the fullest.
"If this is not the end of oblivion, then I shall live everyday as if my life were to end on this very day."
Gosh, I missed this out in my "What a Week" post... lol~ This was on Tuesday. Man, to think that the previous Tuesday was bad, this week's was worse! Last week we stayed till 11.15pm doing work, this week it was 12.08am which was horrible! Well, it was kinda required if we didn't want stuff to finish late on Wednesday and have printers chasing after us (trust me it gets worse every week)... We would do what we can on Tuesday and finish off the rest on Wednesday before the 12noon deadline (which oddly has never made it since we moved to PJ... I guess it's because we're short on manpower).
Anyways, just before dinner, me, Irene & Zali headed off to find some food to eat. We went to this Pasar Ramadhan at Section 14, dun ask me where, I'm so unfamiliar with roads there. There were tons and tons of different types of food! But the thing was most of them were finishing... we were late. So grabbed a bit of this and that... A fat murtabak, which looked awesome, roti Lee John, sugar cane, coconut, kuih... Zali bought some nasi for himself and Husin. Me and Irene even managed to grab some McD... Oh, and Kenny asked for some ayam percik which we couldn't find, lol. Got him 8 chicken wings, not sure what else was there. When we got back to the office, we were just stunned by the sheer mass of food on the table. There were just too many types, and no way we could finish it all... Oh, and we didn't know Jen was in the office too, if not we could've got her something as well. The poor gurl had to settle with Kenny's chicken wings, and some roti Lee John. But I guess we shouldn't have bought BOTH coconut and sugar cane. It was overkill... and the murtabak had to be brought home.
Kenny setting up some food on table...
This weird concoction is actually delicious~
It's called the McFlurry Mudpie~
Jen and I taking pic of the huge mass of food~
Roti Lee John~!
After dinner it was back to work. We did what we could for the day to minimize the damage on Wednesday. Somehow no one really took note of the time and before you know it, it was midnight! OmG... so we all decided to pack our bags and told each other "See ya in a few hours~". What a week it was indeed... but the food part was fun, lol~
On other things, managed to land myself a Deluxe Animated Soundwave a couple of days ago. Was lucky enuff to get it when it was taken out of the shop's shipping boxes. The glow-like blue looks real cool, and Lazerbeak becomes a guitar which attaches to the roof. Overall the vehicle looks really "boom-box"-ey~
Recovering well this week, at least I could get more rest... Still have those 2 music reviews due... Well, I'm trying to commit myself place use any extra cash I've earned into my "DSLR fund". Hopefully by perhaps Christmas time I can probably dream of getting myself a nice digital SLR~ It should help a lil with my new-found event activities, and also complement the digicam and film SLR in my hobby of photography~
Dreaming of the Nikon D90:
But most probably will only be able to afford the Sony Alpha300:
Let's see how hard I can work. Will try my best~!
Btw, wondering when our lil mini-Olympics with Brainchild will actually start, should be a great chance to take some fun pics~
What a week of tiredness... day after day of absolute work and lack of sleep... but I'll get to that later, first of all...
BoA will Eat You Up~! The time we've all been waiting for is here, the Korean princess of pop, Kwon BoA has just announced her plans to enter the US market. At a conference titled "Best of Asia, Bring on America", BoA also unveiled details of her 1st single from her upcoming US album. The single, titled "Eat You Up" features 2 separate MVs, one from a American director and one a Korean. Eat You Up is produced by Bloodshy & Avant while the music videos were choreographed by Flii Styiz and Misha Gabriel. Flii Styiz has worked with many artists like Chris Brown, Usher, Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. Max Gousse will be her manger in America and has worked with Beyoncé, Usher and Justin Timberlake.
What caught the attention of fans was that BoA had one of her arms in a plaster cast. It was then revealed that she fell down the stairs the previous day while rehearsing (poor thing). She'll be up and running (hopefully) in 6 weeks. The full MV will be revealed on October 7th and on November 11th her management will release the single in public stores and online through Amazon, Myspace, iTunes, and even ringtone downloads. Her album will be out early 2009 and she will be promoting the album with appearances on TV shows, radio programs, and at clubs. After her promotion period, she is planning to do a nationwide concert tour. (Source: BoAjjang)
BoA in front of the image she'll portray in the West
SM Entertainment's Lee Soo Man himself helping her sit~
Here's a look at the teaser for her American MV, directed by Diane Martel. In my opinion it's hip-hoppy but a lil odd, with the CGi background and the mismatching lipstick. But it does reveal part of the song, which does get catchy after a few plays. The dance moves are typical BoA, full of energy and looking hot. There were also a few sexy scenes of BoA, and I have to admit I hope she doesn't get too sexy, as in America it's all about sex. I mean sex sells, but BoA, she can pull it off without it...
The second teaser is her Korean MV, directed by Cha Eun Taek, which I feel is much cooler than the American one, but just as over-the-top. Here she shows a much more "BoA" appearance, and I like that a lot. Not much of the song other than the chorus, but you'd have to admit it's getting catchier and catchier. There's also has a lil of Michael Jackson feel to the MV, with the whole "well-done-ness" slapped all over it. It's probably the type of MV I'd prefer BoA to go to the US with...
Oh, and later on Flo-Rida will feature in the remixed version of the single. Shud be cool stuff~ I really hope this single will do well, and spearhead her entry into the US market. The album in 2009 is going to be hot stuff, and I really, really pray the Americans will know how to appreciate the Best of Asia. Wish her lots of luck guys~!
Someone Dig Me out of this Hole "I've like dug this deep, deep hole and I have no idea why I have done this. Somebody help me!!!" That's exactly what I felt last weekend when I had to cover 2 events on the same day. But don't get me wrong, I accepted the tasks, but I guess I didn't know what to expect. It was so tiring, and um, they weren't exactly the most interesting of events. But I accepted them on good faith that I'll gain some precious experience.
Went to Sunway College to cover their Undergraduate Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Gosh it felt so awkward being there with almost 400+ students attending. Apparently they had some problems regarding a press conference as other than me, there's only1 chap from The Star. We two were the loners there. So they arranged chairs in a room and we had a small discussion. It was tough juggling taking down notes and taking photos, you can't do them both! Worse still, I didn't have a single clue on accounting. Anyways, soon after that, I headed to KL for another event.
It was at Hotel Maya, and it was the 1st convocation of Cyberlink International College (CIC). I was the only media there, I had to admit its rather scary for me. But seeing all the smiling faces of soon-to-be graduates lessens my awkward-ness. Took some photos, did some interviews and then headed home. There was also a weird fashion show too.
Sacrificed my Sunday to write the stories. Sigh... I really wanted to go to Sungei Wang that weekend to grab a Tomica Speed Racer Mach 5. But I heard it's now available in Jusco so I guess I'll have to look around now. I even dug a bigger hole by saying I'd submit the music reviews on Monday. I looked at Irene and uttered "What have I done???". After all was done, I'm so glad to see it out in print. This week's issue is the most input I have ever put in, with 2 articles, 2 music reviews, short article on Animax and a page of compiled picks of the week. And gosh I'm so tired...
On other things, I have this crush on a girl at my workplace. Well, to be honest I have no idea if she knows I have the hots for her. She's funny, cute and outgoing, and I'd like to know more bout her first, she does seem like an interesting person. But why oh why this always so daunting for me... T_T
Spaghetti Delight
Yeah man, nothing beats spaghetti that's home-made. Spaghetti, wonderful gravy with lots of tomatoes, butterfly prawns, caesar salad, french bread... Nyum-nyum...
Gosh, I've really been behind with my postings... to put it simply, I just didn't have the time. I've been too busy with work, in in the morning and back late at night on rush days, having hardly much time for myself. It's tiring, but work is work, we need the money to survive, no? Despite earning hardly enough to get through the month, I still keep going. Times are hard and rising prices are tough too... The fact that September is a month of car insurances and road tax for me doesn't help one bit at all.
Pardon the homage to SNSD's famous song as the title of this blog entry, but it was pretty much what happened to me last week. Thursday, 28th August 2008, something interesting came passing by. After the weekly company meeting, the boss called me to her room. Now, I had to admit I was a little nervous. After all, why all of a sudden? Sifu said I was gonna be fired. Joking, of course... After a short chat with the boss, it turns out that I'll be covering an event... as a trial. To see how I perform, as a possible branch-off to my usual work schedule. Well, of course I was excited... but I was helluva worried and feeling nervous chills up my spine.
This could very well be a blessing... or a curse.
I've always wanted to try journalism, so I accepted the offer, which is to cover a *gulp* fashion event at The Curve. I was to take photos and write a short article. The event was a launch of a new collection titled "Dangerously Glamorous". It was really daunting, to be there with so many experienced journalists and photographers there... and worst, I didn't recognize who the 2 designers were! I asked the girl who sat next to me, I forgot her name, but she works with Klue. She said she had no idea either, but she was there to do a photo assignment, herself being new to this too. Met her rather cute colleague too, my guess was that she does the writing. Anyways, it wasn't too long before we found ourselves running to the middle to find a good spot to shoot. It was tough cos the pro photographers already got the best angles. The lighting was a lil low, and there was a mix of fluorescent and incandescent lights. Anyways, here's some pics from the event:
The event took place at Binwani's Boutique
Yup, that's Amber Chia! I was so excited to see her up close~
Miss Astro Chinese International 2007, Joanne Yew. She was so gorgeous!
Occasionally, my cam would steal flash from other cameras, resulting in shots like this~
Oh, Dayang Nurfaizah was there too, although she walked past the photographers during her 1st round. Well, it's ok I guess, since she's a singer and she doesn't do this as often as Amber. We all asked her to stop for a while the following round she made. Hehe...
Amber looking gorgeous. This was one of the nicest outfits to me~
Oh, and here Joanne is showing off this nice green asymmetrical evening gown, which I found totally stunning and it's my favourite of the event~
Another photo of Dayang~
This nice dress had lil bits sewn to it~
The finale... look at those gorgeous girls with matching gorgeous gowns~
Mr. Vijay Binwani himself~!
Oh, and I bumped into Amber 2 times on my way back. I should have asked for a photo! Real wasted opportunity... sigh. Well, the event went on fine, I was able to go back home right after that as it was already after working hours. Lots of thoughts crossed my mind over how to do the article and whether the photos turned out okay...
The next day itself, Farah came over and asked if I could do a favor and cover an event at Sunway Pyramid. I was quite surprised. Another assignment, so fast? Wow... Well, I took the job, went there after lunchtime. It was at the Blue Entrance, an event called "KICK! 2008", in which a team of amateur girls aged 19-29 attempt to break the record for "Most Number of Martial Arts Kicks by a Team in 24 Hours" in the Malaysia Book of Records. They're also doing it for charity as the public could donate for each kick. This was to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. The target to beat was 52,800 kicks and each girl has to do an average of 40 kicks a minute to meet that figure. A daunting task if you ask me. I helped to shoot some photos, as the official photographer for that day, Thean Howe, had another assignment at 4pm, so he had to miss the actual kicking. Spoke to a photographer from the NST there, her name was Nurul if I'm not mistaken. It was quite cool to see a female photographer among the guys. The poor gurl just came back from 3 days staying with Orang Asli for a story. Anyways, some photos from the event:
The stage in which the girls were gonna kick for 24 hours~
Captain Quack sent in a special request to try for himself some kicks!
This is team captain and manager Xaviera, whose kicks are pure awesomeness!
This girl, June, is also very hyper... look at her go!
This girl caught my attention. Her name's Ca-Ryn, she was quite ferocious like the rest, but in between kicks she was so hyper and ready for action...
She's cute, and not to mention darn fit...
Here are some videos of her in action... notice how ferocious her kicks are, and they cute way she keeps herself aggressive during rests in between kicks.
I left after watching them kick for bout half-an-hour. They kept going at it, it was awesome... The last ones I watched were Fionna and Puteri (I think), and gosh, despite their small frames, they were simply amazing. The next they the results were 53,085 kicks, a whole 285 more than the initial target, earning themselves the record. Well done girls~!
My next task was to write the article, which I admit proved harder than I thought. I was slow in starting it, and I feel this had to be improved. Usually the start is the important part, then keeping the momentum. The boss told me she liked what she saw, and would forward it to the editor. The next thing I knew, one of my articles was going to be put into the coming issue! Woweee... needed some changes though, but basically it's there... the KICK! 2008 story, with a mixture of Thean Howe's photos and mine. A whole full-pager... I was so excited. After laying it out (took me ages, cos like Sifu said, it was my 'baby'), I found out that Zali was laying out... guess what... my Binwani's story! With my photos!!! OmG! 2 full-pages? I couldn't contain my excitement... That would of course increase a lot that evening when the early print of the paper came out:
Here are links to bigger-sized pages so you can read them :)
Well, like I said earlier, this is just a start... I'd like to see how this goes, but I have my worries too, on whether I can keep up and whether it'll affect my work. It's going to use a lot of brainpower to come up with something so quickly. It's not going to be easy but I'm gonna give this a go.
It was a night full of suspense and thrill. Never would have I expected it to be this tight. Yup, the big one, Finals for the Individual 10m Platform Diving... 12 of the world's best divers all lining up for that one prize, the Gold Medal. Amongst the many older divers, stood one with a tiny frame (okay there were a few other small ones as well), the youngest of the final 12, Chen Ruolin of China. At only 15 years of age, she could've been easily eclipsed by the rest in the field, but no, she joined the Olympics as the World No.1. I couldn't imagine the amount of pressure placed upon this little girl... she was to dive in front of the home crowd, thousands of people cheering every time she stood on the platform... no Chinese woman has ever won this Gold for 12 years... they definitely wanted her to win... and she was up against the best of the field. She looked so calm, her face full of focus.
She has mentioned before that she treats competition the same way she does training, so that there is no pressure. "I didn't put too much pressure on myself before the competition. I just treated this final as if it was a training session," she said. She also mentioned that the fact that nobody from her nation ever won Gold in 12 years also made her nervous. Whatever it is, she didn't show even a slight sign of defeat, even after Canadian Emilie Heymans overtook her in the fourth round with a really good dive. For the 1st time during the competition, Chen wasn't leading, the crowd started to get nervous. Chen's dive for that round couldn't shake Heymans off the 1st rank. Things were made worse when Heymans did a near-flawless dive of 88 points as her final sign-off. The crowd quietened, Chen's teammate Wang Xin (who also shares the same birthday as me) has already scored 2nd rank, just behind Heymans, ensuring a confirmed medal.
Now the question was... which color will Chen get? She needs more than an astronomical 90 points to win the Gold. Looking unfazed, she walks calmly to the edge of the platform...
The crowd stands up, chanting "Chen Ruolin! Chen Ruolin!" and they quieten down just in time before she maneuvers a slick back 2 1/2 somersault with 1 1/2 twists, her toughest dive.
It was awesome, simply flawless perfection, no splosh or splash... it's as if she flew into straight the water like a dart. That only happens when you make a perfect vertical entry. Chen got out of the pool, bowed and cried after she had nailed her last and toughest dive. She was happy with the dive.
Even before it was shown on TV, you could tell that she has nailed it by the cheers of the Chinese crowd and the fact that her coach was squeezing her lil body tightly. Chen was in tears, tears of joy. What she needed was a perfect dive, and that's exactly what she did, earning a total score of 100.30 consisting of 4 perfect 10s (she got 7 perfect 10s altogether in the Final). Coaches and competitors alike hugged and squeezed her, taking photos and exchanging compliments. The crowd went on a never-ending roar of cheers and applause. She was the heroine of the hour, she upheld their dream. For the 1st time in 12 years, the Medal goes to China. I could only watch in absolute shock and relief as Chen continued to cry.
Unknown to her, the chap writing this blog entry did too. I'm not sure why, but I was cheering in front of the TV, and drops of water lowed down my cheeks. She did it. She actually nailed the Gold! All that in the last minute... Earning her 2nd Gold medal means completing her dream, which is to bring back 2 Golds. Sounds like a simple dream, until you learn that she only took part in 2 events! She entered and she won... first in the Synchronised 10m Platform with Wang Xin and now in the Individual 10m Platform... and that, ladies and gentleman, is why she is the World No.1~ Never before have I witnessed such a tight and dramatic finale live. This Final may become a legend in future years, as many would remember how one lil girl, youngest in the competition, with one dive, turned the whole table around. Watching photos of her on the podium with her gold medal was really something (yeah, the silly TV coverage actually CUT off the medal ceremony). She stood there with her Bronze medalist companion Wang, with Silver medalist Heymans towering above both of them.
I couldn't be more proud of her, especially after following her progress of 2 years, back from her debut at the Asian Games in Doha. She has made massive waves worldwide, and I believe she will only get better because of her sheer determination and endless strive to do better. But I do hope she eats more, I heard that her coaches caught her skipping meals because she's worried that puberty will make her put on weight. She also had to keep off her favourite snacks because of the Olympics. She also said that the first thing she would like to do after securing champion, is to have a good sleep and eat whatever good to eat. And that's what you should do dear, eat well and be healthy.
Keep it up gurl!
And that's all for this entry, dedicated especially to her,
I'm sure you guys must be living under a rock if you don't know that the 2008 Summer Olympics is happening now in Beijing. China lived up to their promise to deliver an awesome one and so far everything has been nothing short of magnificent. For instance, the opening was mind-blowingly fantastic (I'm not going to talk bout the added-on CGi and the cute lil girl/talented behind the scene singer combo, they did their parts and they did well). The whole thing was done out of sheer kiasu-ism of the highest order. China showed the world that Asians are a force to be reckoned with (the mere thought of the 3000-member martial art show leaves me goosebumps). The final leg of the torch, with the mid-air running and amazing light-up sequence completes the rather grand opening.
I'm sure everyone also knows that China is leading. Considering they are the hosts, and the fact that they did so well in Athens, this isn't that surprising. But they bettered their own record for medal hauls! My goodness... the Chinese are on a roll, and it looks to me that they are not stopping anytime soon. One particular Chinese athlete I support is 15-year-old diver Chen Ruolin. Everyone would go "Chen who?..." but honestly that doesn't bother me. She might be under the radar for most peeps, but I've been following the progress of this young girl and she did nothing but amaze me. From her humble beginnings, she showed great promise to emerge as the current 10m Platform World Cup Champion. Now she has finally reached the Olympics, and her dream is to win 2 golds. She has already won one with new partner Wang Xin (her old partner Jia Tong grew up too fast and was unable to synchronise with her) for the Synchronised 10m Platform, beating all odds.
(in case you were wondering, in the diving pics she's the one nearer to the you and on the last pic she's on the left)
Now comes the other remaining test which is the Individual 10m Platform. It's too much to do for a 15-year-old if you ask me, but knowing how amazing Chen is, I'm confident this lil girl can pull it off. All the best, may you achieve your Olympic dream!
Oh, and did you guys know that this year, whenever an athlete wins, his or her favourite song would be played? When South Korean Park Tae-hwan won the 1st Olympic Swimming gold for his country, what a pleasant surprise to know that his song of choice was none other than So Nyeo Shi Dae's Girls' Generation song... You bet those girls were excited back home on their TV sets. Way to go dude... and you sure have great taste in music! Haha~!
And for badminton, I'm sure most of you watched the sad final between Lee Chong Wei and China's Lin Dan. Sure, Malaysians would want the gold by all costs, but the poot guy's under tremendous pressure, and did you hear the Chinese crowd in the stadium? It was ear-piercingly loud, going "China! Lin Dan! China! Lin Dan!". Even the toughest of souls would have had a bad time going against that. See what happened to Venus Williams? Same thing here. Poor Chong Wei had everything stacked against him, and adding salt to the wound, Lin Dan was in top shape and gave no forms of mercy. But to me, Chong Wei gave us our 1st medal of the 2008 Olympics, and a Silver one at that. I believe that is already an amazing effort. People should give him cheers of support instead of criticising him. I wish him lost of luck in getting revenge when he faces Lin Dan again at the Asian Games. Oh, and on another note, did you guys catch the amazing Mixed Doubles Final before that? The South Koreans beat the Indonesians in straight sets yo! Ranked No.10 bringing down Rank No.1. That is one heck of an achievement... Couldn't make out what Korean song was played though...
I wanna write more, but sigh, I'm always short of time. One thing about this Olympics, I'll miss Romanian Monica Rosu from Artistic Gymnastics... a real queen of the vaults, graceful as a bird, strong as a bee. Too bad she got injured and retired. She's rather chubby now (but still cute), and will be sorely missed from the competition.
Maybe I'll post something more in-depth bout her later. Oh, and for those who had no idea, Artistic Gymnastics and Diving are my 2 favourite events~ Although I missed most of the gymnastic events this time around. Only managed to catch the men's team finals~
That's all for now, waiting for the Individual 10m Platforms to start... Preliminaries start on Wednesday~ I'll end this entry off with the LOL pic everyone's been forwarding each other:
This post is dedicated to Tiffany (Stephanie Hwang MiYoung) of So Nyeo Shi Dae (aka 소녀시대 or Girls Generation) who celebrates her 20th (19th outside Korea) birthday today. So everyone be warned that there will be tons of Fany love in this blog entry!
Yup, everyone's favourite mushroom-loving jewel is going to be a year older and I'm sure a whole lot wiser. I'm rather fond of Fany Fany Tiffany and she's one of my favourites in the group. It's just impossible to not love this young lady's charm, laughter and overall happy-go-lucky character. She's one of the main components of SNSD and she holds them together like a big family. At times she can be ridiculously naive and downright innocent that it's just intoxicating (but fans just love her for being that way). More often than not, she'd say something really straightforward and not really think much about it, which of course led to some people making up unwanted stories (but I shall not go into that). She is wonderful for who she is, and even from their debut MV, her charm has already attracted many fans (she was the member with the most fans when SNSD debuted). Her then short mushroom-like bob hair (it has become long and short since) made her the most distinctive in the group, and who could ever forget her and her lil pink scooter?
No matter which MV she's involved in, her charm and smile can be seen from a mile away. She also has that infectious laughter that can make anyone mad at her melt. How anyone can be anti-her is beyond me.
^ Fany is often the leader in front during "Kissing You" performances~
She also possesses the ability to speak fluent English, having grown up in the States. This was caught a few people by surprise before their debut, especially when during the Girls Go to School TV show she spoke to her dad on the phone with an American accent (sadly her mum passed away when she was little). Her similarity with Jessica means that these two talented girls can sing awesome English duets and when given a chance, Fany doesn't disappoint with her solo efforts...
Another interesting quirk is the frequent mistakes she makes. As you know, a band like SNSD require a lot of dance moves for their performances... Fany has been caught red-handed many times by fans missing a move or doing it the opposite way (even I caught one recently... see below)...
Well, she did have an excellent intro for SNSD's "Tell Me" performance. Still, mistakes do happen, she's human after all. But boy do fans love her for that. It's become part of her character, her trademark, fans think it's cute. Even in cartoon fanart, when they draw her, she'll be portrayed in the opposite direction. Well, Tiffany has the least amount of training before debut compared to the other girls (roughly 3 years, compared to the 5 and 7 years of some members), so I guess it's forgivable (we fans would find any reason we can to cover this mushroom). I mean seriously, look at this gurl...
Isn't she just adorable?
This year I hope Fany is in for a wonderful birthday as there is much excitement in store. Today, on her actual birthday, she has a music video launching for Nexon's Mabinogi video game (she's the main character in the music video!) and the great folks at Soshified have all chipped in and sent her wonderful birthday presents to cherish. Not only that, like Fany said on Soshified's shoutbox, "My Birthday = Girls' Generation's Birthday"~ Yup, it's hard to believe but it's true, SNSD is a year old. Despite all the nay-sayers and critics, they have defied odds and got where they are now (will write more on that in a separate entry). They will be holding a fan meeting on their 1st anniversary, which also means that they are NOT coming to Malaysia for the MTV Asia Awards in Genting.
I know it's a lil sad, but hey, meeting up with fans on their anniversary is a sweet thing to do, and I believe their fans in Korea would be overjoyed. And again, despite the odds, I really hope they win the "Best Korean Artiste" award on the 2nd of August~ I'm sure the other unnies will give her a great birthday celebration, and as she is officially an adult in Korea this year, there'll probably be more smiles than ever (though she'll always be an adorable mushroom to the fans). Fany, Jessica and SeoHyun also demonstrated their vocal abilities when only the 3 of them sang the single "Oppa Nappa" (Bad Brother) recently.
But yet despite all there is to love about Tiffany, there are many who try to bring her down, either because they believe in stupid rumors, or just plain jealous. Oh, and if you're an anti-fan and you're reading this because you just hate her and want to bash, I just wanna let you know that I'm pretty fond of her, so you're in the wrong place buddy, so just stop reading this and like, scram, get out and don't ever let me see you because I will HUNT YOU DOWN like the no-life cowardly rat you are!
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Well, to end this post, Fany, if by some miracle of chance you visit my blog (well, you did surprise and made us happy when you visited Soshified, so I guess it's okay to be hopeful~ heehee), I just wanna wish you:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY~!
Best wishes and may you have a blessed year ahead~ You have gone through tons of new experiences and tests throughout this passing year, including your debut, touring, shows, MC-ing and even acting. That alone makes any Fany fan smile. And in between all that, you kept everyone together as a family. You go gurl! Stay the same and let no-one ever bring you down... we are right behind you always~
Okay, I was going to post something longer, but I gotta rush for now...
SNSD's "Tell Me" on TV Today! So Nyeo Shi Dae's excellent performance of Wonder Girls' "Tell Me" is going to be on Astro's KBS World channel today at 2.50pm... I was going to post this sooner, but you know, Streamyx has been like crap up to now... Anyways, don't miss it for the world! You'll regret if you did... There are also 2 other performances from the talented girls, and also performances from the Wonder Girls, who also perform SNSD's "Kissing You". And YuRi's Yul-Rap is worth watching alone... Not enough time to explain to you guys why the 2 bands switched songs, but yeah, they kept the best for last, as SNSD's "Tell Me" is near the end of the show. This is the last repeat of this Music Bank performance, so go to your TV sets like, NOW!
Nasty Start What a nasty start for the week. Monday... loads of work waiting for me in the office, I decided to leave early to get some stuff done. But as soon as I reached the Penang Bridge on the LDP, it was obvious the jam wasn't the usual. This was heavier... the volume of cars were eerily high. Then came the nightmare as I entered Federal Highway... the radio frequency was breaking up. I thought this was normal as I didn't have an antennae. Then I switched off the lights, resulting in the radio becoming clear again. I noticed a lit-up warning of the battery sign. Bad news I tell you. I switched off the radio, and tried to speedily get to work so I could call the mechanic. But then there was the idiotic freaky and totally unnecessary jam caused by roadblocks. Block Anwar from getting to parliament they say? I for one, DO NOT CARE, but please, PLEASE, don't give us this shit. WTF with the stupid jam? And I was early. I was on the highway at 7am. I can't imagine what mess that people coming later had to face. All this because they were scared of one man coming to KL? One does not make the people mad. Really. We are already going through such trying times, we do not need this rubbish. Anyways, to all those who blasted their horn and gave me dirty looks while I was in the emergency lane, I just wanna say SCREW YOU. Just because you want to use the emergency lane to cut queues doesn't give you the right to horn at a stalled car. I curse that the same thing happens to you, 3 times over! Padan muka...
Mr.Chandra here braced an hour-long jam to get to my car~
Imagine how you'd feel if you're in this situation with the massive jam, stalled car and idiotic attitude of some people
Reached the workshop at around 10.30, a full 3 and a half hours later...
Oh, btw, turned out to be a broken alternator belt.
But it costed me a day of work... bummer... :(
Help Me to Vote Please I dunno how to stress this out more. I really want to attend the MTV Asia Awards to see the girls (even though there is yet to be any confirmation of them coming), but I can't secure a ticket, as it is by invitation only. But I'm not putting my personal gains before the real concern. I want SNSD to win. I honestly do. to have them win an award for Best Korean Artiste on the same day their 1st single celebrates it's first anniversary is the best possible gift for them. But what we need now are votes. Votes, votes and more votes. I have tried my level best, voting day in and day out, at work and at home. Asking friends, colleagues and family to help. And all the folks at Soshified (an international SNSD fan community) are also helping out with a fanbase from all over the world (USA, UK, Southeast Asia, Europe, you name it) voting in in helping them. So if you have the time, please help to vote. All it takes is a few clicks. At that would make me really happy... (then again, meeting the girls in person, especially TaeYeon and YuRi, would definitely be the best birthday gift ever!)
There's only 5 days left to the July 25th deadline for voting... so I just wanna go all out and if we can't help them win, I want to rest assured that I have tried my very best. Help bring Girls' Generation to Malaysia~ xD
I want to write more, but I don't wanna clutter too much. Laters then,
What a week it was... rush as ever... in between the stresses of work I had to go through numerous illnesses and thankfully it's much better now. I had to miss Angi's wedding, which made me really sad... time passes so fast and now the girl I used to have a crush on back in college is married... She looked gorgeous on her wedding btw (saw her on Koshin's phone). Anyways, I had to miss the Super GT too. Bummer... And btw work wasn't too good either, having stuff not being in time ever since we shifted to the new place...
Mini Reunion Had a lil reunion with a few old buddies which I've not met in ages... especially Koshin, Sharon and Pei Woen (they're all pretty as ever!)... it felt like I've not seen them forever! Quite a number of us turned-up, CK and Alex were in KL earlier but I didn't know. We were all in Times Square earlier... lol. I went to XL Shop to meet Shirley. It's been a month, I sure missed her. Did some preorders with her and collected my Revoltech Lazengann.
Went to makan at Saisaki (CK organized, but keep saying it's Koshin...). Had a lot of chit-chat (and food of course) and after that, we even crossed to Pavilion for yumcha... Was fun, but didn't get to chat much with some of them, like Pei Woen. Hopefully there'll be more meets like this soon... (will post up photos later)
Help Vote SNSD Please!!!
The MTV Asia Awards are coming to Malaysia and So Nyeo Shi Dae (aka 소녀시대 or Girls' Generation) is nominated for best Korean act. Voting is done online, so one can help vote just by clicking the "vote" button. You can do so once every 10 minutes. I have been doing my best and I can see them steadily going up. They were tops once but the boyband lovers voted crazily, bringing them down. Now it's up to us to help them gain back the No.1 spot. We have till the 25th of July to vote! Well, you guys can vote for whoever you guys fancy, but for the "Best Korean Act", I hope you guys can help, cos I heard that the winning band *WILL* come to Genting for the awards, and I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want them to COME! I mean, who wouldn't want their favourite band down in Malaysia? Some more, it falls on the 2nd of August, which coincides with the band's 1st anniversary of their debut single. So please, please help me to help them have a memorable anniversary. And it also falls roughly a week before my birthday too, so it'll be like an early present for me as well... heehee... So let's bring SNSD down to Genting yo!
Baby Baby! Speaking of SNSD, I was about to order this CD from online, as the one selling at Rock Corner was RM89.90 (Korea Version). Then I was walking around Amcorp Mall on my way back from work, and came across this CD (it's the CD+DVD Hong Kong version) selling at RM53.90 at Victoria. Woohoo! Oh, in case you were living under a rock and had no idea, Baby Baby is the repackaged version of SNSD's self-titled album, which has 3 extra tracks including an Old Skool Rock version of "Kissing You" and a new track "Let's Go So Nyeo Shi Dae!!". A lotta people would say repackages are not worth it, but man... how can I resist SNSD? The Hong Kong version comes with annoying Chinese text on the cover (sorry, but I'm all out for Korean authenticity when it comes to Korean albums) and worse, the DVD comes with Chinese karaoke translations... *rolls eyes*
McD's New Additions McDonald's recently added a couple of new items to their menu. Me and Iwene were late at work one day, so we decided to try the delivery. I was having problems with my voice and sounded really bad on the phone. The girl on the other line kept asking me to repeat as she couldn't understand what I was saying. But anyways the food came... The Double Spicy Chicken McDeluxe was a mere shadow of it's advertised self.
The other item was their Spanish Onion Rings... pretty okay, I'd say something in between A&W's and Burger King's. A&W's is still the yummiest, this would've been nicer if hot (the burger too).
I guess if one eats in the restaurant, these two items would be much nicer (they were nice even in their soggy state though).
Okla, that's all for now... might post more later...
Yeah... fear me cos I have returned to blog. Yeah, just as this place was gaining cobwebs and halfway thru it's fossilization stage, I have once again re-emerged to reignite it. Haha...
Fuel Craze...
All the hype bout the recent fuel increase... I mean, we saw it coming, why all the fuss now? Oil prices have been escalating in all over the world in recent times, what makes you think we're immune to that? It's a matter of time before the government loses it's ability to subsidise fuel. Putting the amount saved on other necessities like food is a move that has been long overdue. On the astronomical price of petroleum, well... it's gonna get worse in August and also next year, so we'd better be prepared.
HAH... TU LAH... KAN DULU ENVIRONMENTALIS DAH CAKAP, GUNELAH HYBRID, GUNELAH ELEKTRIK... LEBIH BAGUS UNTUK ALAM, TAK NAK DENGAR... HAH... TULAH...
Countries like Singapore have subsidies for hybrids (Prius, Insight, Civic etc) and electric vehicles. It's high time we follow suit. It'll also save environment in the long run. For petrol-based vehicles, cars like smart have low fuel consumption and should help ease out woes. Oh, and our Savvy is the most economical car in the UK, that says a lot, since it beat even the Prius... And what about our local water-based cars? LMG? Well, their showroom opened recently near my place. I'll update as I catch up with them... Well, that's for those of you who are getting new rides. For now, I'll have to bear with the escalated costs... having to pay RM120+ for slightly more than 3/4 tank is not something a sane Malaysian can bear (only just found out this morning), and the only consolation I have is that my commute to the new office only consumes roughly 1/2 tank of fuel a week... heehee...
7 Days to Evangelion : 1.0 Yup, I can't believe we're only a week to the local premiere of Rebuild of Evangelion : 1.0 - You Are (Not) Alone... Yeah, quite a mouthful, I guess that's why they shortened it "Evangelion : 1.0 - You Are (Not) Alone". To watch this on the big screen would be gloriously wonderful... and I hope they bring in the other 3 movies as well... They, as in Cathay Cineplexes, as they're the only ones daring enough to bring anime to this part of the world. They wowed us one with Gonzo's Brave Story, now let's hope it's all smooth sailing for the Evangelion movie... despite the 6-month wait for the subbed version. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Rebuild is meant to be an updated remake of the Evangelion series into a movie version, with lil changes in the storyline and tweaked for easier understanding. And yeah, even those with no knowledge of what an Evangelion are able to enjoy this~
This is the Singapore poster... they got it in March!
These two screenshots show how much more detailed the new movie is... (It's on the left, if you haven't guessed already)
Been way too busy to post anything, everyday's cycle is work-sleep-work-sleep... OmG... anyways, thought of posting something instead of nothing at all, so I'm just listing a number of movies I feel are worth looking forward to this year, which may well be called the Year of Superheroes and Film Adaptations due to the number of comic-to-film, cartoon-to-film and superhero movies coming out, not that I'm complaining... hehe~
2008 Movies
Speed Racer
No other movie brings so much excitement to me this year than Speed Racer. I mean it's Speed Racer for crying out loud! What is there not to like? It's directed by the Wachowski Brothers of The Matrix fame, it has state-of-the-art CGi (have you seen that damn-awesome trailer with all that insane sommersaulting and stunts?) and has Hot Wheels making it's merchandise (have you seen the new awesomely damn-good-looking Mach 5?). What makes me so glad is that they gave lots of respect to the original concept and are working seriously hard in making this look GOOD. This is so going to be unlike anything we've seen before... Seriously, the races look so damn-freaking good! Oh, and it's also got super-adorable and lovable cutie-pie Christina Ricci too! OmG OmG Oh-My-GOD!
Now this is the other big one... It's Iron Man! Everyone loves Iron Man, I used to really like his cartoons, despite all the problems he used to have. He was in a way, very human, much like how Batman was. He now gets an updated suit, which kinda grew on me slowly, and Audi has some say in the car department... sweet... But too bad because of Transformers, this movie's effects seem to lack some "kick". Anyways, it's the 1st movie by Marvel Studios, so with Marvel taking things into their own hands, I'm anxious to how this one turns out~
Yup, the Hulk is back... but wait, it's a RE-MAKE. This time by Marvel Studios (yup, the same people doing Iron Man), so expect pretty good stuff. From the looks of it, it seems they have turned the saturation down for the green chap, and there's the totally kick-ass-ugly Abomination as his nemesis. This must not be missed!
Hellboy's back and this time there'll be no more Super Sapien title nonsense. He's just so cool (and somewhat cute), there's no reason why anyone should miss this. Looking red as ever, he's kicking ass with his buddy Abe Sapien and super-hot (literally too!) girlfriend Liz. And he has a totally bad-ass huge gun this time around!
