Category: General

Gangstarz Finale @ Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam


I was fortunate to be given tickets to watch the finale of Gangstarz, a local reality show. It was held at Stadium Melawati and was aired live on TV3.

It rained when we arrived at Stadium Meliwat. We had to bring our umbrella out but we couldn’t bring it into the stadium and had to leave it outside the stadium. I was quite surprised to find our umbrella at the same place where we left it. The last time I left my umbrella somewhere was when I was at the KL Bar auditorium for a talk. Some bloody lawyer/chambie stole my umbrella hence forcing me to walk under the rain.


There was some pre-show entertainment where the host started some sort of dancing competition. And thank god it wasn’t a Melbourne Shuffle competition. They had couple of people dancing on the stage and one danced like a sotong (octopus). The grand prize was a 3 days 2 nights trip to Bali.
Before the dance started, one of the contestants fell off from the stage. How embarrassing.

From Philippines – 3.5!

All the contestants on stage
The show went alright. It wasn’t as good as the one I went previously. The finalists were teams from Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. The winner of Gangstarz is determined by judges’ rating and also SMS votes. The unfair part is that only those in Malaysia can vote. When I heard about this, my first impression is that the contest would be really unfair to non Malaysian. However, the last season was won by an Indonesian team.

A guy came in wheelchair.
And this season was won by One Nation Emcees, a Malaysian team! This team consists of 3 guys and 1 girl. Their style is hip hop based and in fact, they associate themselves heavily with Black Eyed Peas.

Gangstarz is partly sponsored by Maggi!
Congrats to One Nation Emces!

Olympics Badminton Final – Part II

When I was young, I sucked big time in badminton (and I still suck). I could never return a shot and also serve properly. I was a complete failure. But at that time, badminton was a huge thing and all my friends were fighting hard for a spot in the school team.
It was in the early 1990s when the former world badminton singles champion from China, Yang Yang settled down in Malaysia to coach. And it was by chance that my parents and I bumped into Yang Yang while we were having breakfast in Ying Jia restaurant.
Mum: Ah Boy, go and get Yang Yang’s signature.
Me: okok.
(walks over)
Me: Yang Yang, can I please get your signature??
Yang Yang: Sure! (signs on my autograph book in Chinese)
I didn’t understand a word he wrote but I ran back to Mum screaming “MUMMMMMMM I GOT IT!!!!!!!”
From there onwards, the autograph book was one of my prized treasures.
But as the years went by, this incident faded off from my memory – until Mum reminded me during dinner today.
Mum: You remember about the autograph incident last time? Did you know that Yang Yang signed your autograph book as “郭富城”.
I then realised that Yang Yang had signed off as “Kwok Fu-Shing” also known as Aaron Kwok, one of the famous singers at that time. p4w3d!

Olympics Badminton Final – Malaysia v China


Badminton is perhaps the only sports in Olympics that we can actually count on to win a gold medal. We have been very close to getting one and it looks like we have to wait another 4 years.

1st Round: bye? I wonder what does this mean…
Hopes were high for Malaysians as World No. 2, Lee Chong Wei had beaten World Number 1. Lin Dan on numerous occasions. At the finals of one tournament, Lin Dan walked out from the prize giving ceremony after Chong Wei beaten him.
Unfortunately, this time round, Lin Dan thrashed Chong Wei 21 – 12, 21 – 8 in a 49 minutes match. Chong Wei was no match for Lin Dan – Lin Dan was fully in control. Interestingly, Lin Dan had never lost a single match throughout the 2008 Olympics.
Chong Wei was visibly upset over the lost notwithstanding that this is his best performance in the Olympics and this is also Malaysia’s first silver for men’s singles.
In this game, Chong Wei has lost his chance to a RM1 million incentive, Malaysia’s first gold in badminton in the Olympics and possibly a public holiday declared by the government.

LG Scarlet Contest

LG has just started an online contest where participants must either create a video using clips that are provided (“Director”) or alternatively, become a fan of a video that was created (“Fan”).
To win as a Director, participant must create a video by choosing 6 clips from a list of clips provided in the website. Video with the most votes will entitle them to the grand prize or weekly prize.

As for a Fan, participant must choose a video that they wish to promote and then invite friends to join the contest. The highest accumulated number of virals entitled the participant to win the grand prize.

The prizes are the grand prize of a LG Scarlet 35” LCD or a weekly prize of a LG Hi-Fi.

In creating a video, a Director will have to combine 6 clips into one and then insert dialogs into any of the clips.

When I first surfed the contest website, there were not many videos. I watched two videos and I was almost bored to death.
I thought I should come out with something different. Hence., I created two videos but I think one got rejected because it was too crude. The second video (below) was approved!

Direct link
Note: The dialog box is supposed to be on the bottom but it became a bubble form instead.
Please vote for me!!!
Related Link:
LG Scarlet Website

Gangstarz @ TV3


This is a season to eat durian falalalalalalaa..
Everybody smells like durian fallallalala
And it’s true that many people smells like durian during this season. I was at the live performance of the local reality show Gangstarz – standing next to celebrity judges Ajai, Sheikh Haikel and Jaclyn Victor.

All of a sudden, the smell of durian slowly trickled into my nose. I had to quickly take a step backwards to escape the smell. Euw.

When I first heard about Gangstarz, I thought it’s some reality show that appeals to the Malays. In fact, when I was at the hall, 99% of the audience was Malay. I thought I would bore myself to death.
But after catching it live, I was wrong. It’s one of the best local reality shows around. The contestants consist of groups from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. To my surprise, this show is broadcasted in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia but only those based in Malaysia can vote.
The singers sang extremely well and many of these foreign singers sang in Malay. They had to practice over and over again to get their pronunciation right. But for the grand prize of US$100, 000, all these hard work are well worth it.

3.5


Hosts



Paragon Child


All the contestants
My favourite singers are 3.5 and Paragon Child. I hope one of them wins!

Kota Kinabalu Part II: Overview

The last time I visited Kota Kinabalu (fondly known as KK) was February this year. At that time, most of the shops were closed due to Chinese New Year and we were busy with a SW’s wedding preparation. This time round, I was back with a mission – to visit the places that I didn’t manage to visit and to eat at places which were closed during the last visit.
KK’s latest edition would be the One Borneo. It’s a huge shopping centre with numerous hotels adjoined to it (as big as our local One Utama!). The shopping centre is almost identical to those we have in Kuala Lumpur as the brands they have are almost identical. However, the construction of the place is not fully completed. Some parts e.g the park are dusty.


Other than One Borneo, the notable places are the Menara Tun Mustapha, KK City Mosque. Tanjung Aru beach, Bukit Bendera and Gaya Street Sunday Market.
Menara Tun Mustapha is a 30 storey building located next to the beach. Take a lift to the 18th floor to visit @tmosphere, a revolving restaurant to have a panoramic view of KK. The food and drinks are quite pricey though.



@tmosphere


Not a very good place to take picture as the window reflects.
KK City Mosque is only accessible to Muslims. However, visitors can hang out at the compound to take pictures. KK City Mosque looks like a floating above water.

Tanjung Aru Beach on the other hand is just a few minutes drive from the city centre. The water is not in top condition but the sand is acceptable. One can dine at the beach side – at high end restaurants or hawker stalls.


The main attraction of Bukit Bendara is a look out point to enjoy the breathtaking view of KK. The hill is actually called Signal Hill but the signboard that leads me there says Bukit Bendera.



Sounds like..”Anda ko makan ayam..” (Do you eat chicken?)
Gaya Streey Sunday Market, as the name explains, is a market held every Sunday. It features local handicrafts, food, plants and even animals.
The highlight of the trip is probably the time when we had a trip down to Poring Hot Springs, Kundasang and Kinabalu National Park. We had to go narrow and windy 2 lanes roads to get to these places. The road was probably built up on a mountain as most of the time we can see a ravine next to us. Further, throughout the journey, Mount Kinabalu is visible.
Will blog about all these later!