Time out! ~ Trip to Bukit Bendera, Pulau Pinang - Feb. 2016 -

I don't normally post personal stuff here but I thought maybe I'd do just that, just to try something different. Besides, it's not really that personal anyway.

My family and I went for a trip to Bukit Bendera (also known as Penang Hill) at the end of last February. It's quite an interesting trip so I thought I would share some of the nice pictures I managed to take and some of the interesting things we did up there. At least it could serve as a simple guide to people who are planning to go there, or perhaps introduce the place to people who have not been there before.

So where is Bukit Bendera a.k.a. Penang Hill? It's located in Pulau Pinang (or Penang in English), one of the state in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. There are island side and mainland side of the state and the hill is located on the island side. It's a popular tourist spot so if you ever get lost, you can stop to ask the locals, most likely they would know how to direct you there. It is also stated in some of the road signboards once you get closer to the area. You can get quite a few useful info from their website too like how to get there, the ticket prices for the tram to go up the hill and any interesting activities that are going to be held there.

I visited their website before we went up the hill and thought it would only be a short trip since it seems like there is nothing much to do, but we end up spending around 4 hours up there! I was shocked myself. My last trip there was when I was in secondary school so it's been awhile. It's definitely exciting to see the place had been developed well.

So here are some pictures that I managed to snap. I'm going to spam a lot of pictures here so I apologize in advance if they slowed down the loading time.

You can see the tram tracks from here

My Music Jam ~ Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Alif Satar for October 2014

It's been awhile since I last post about music that I like so let's talk about music now and what music I've been jamming to lately. There's a lot of good stuff out there, so below are some of the music that I keep on repeating on my laptop while working, or dancing to in my car while driving. Just a side note, even though I put 'October' in the title post, it doesn't mean that the songs I'm listed below were released in October. I just want to differentiate this post with my older post about music, hence the month and the year in the title. Make sense? Now let's turn on the music!


Ed Sheeran ~ Don't

Ed Sheeran had released a new music video for a new song a couple of weeks ago called 'Thinking Out Loud' but I'm still enjoying his song 'Don't'. It is such a cool song with interesting lyrics. I've read an article my friend forward to me before that this song is about Ellie Goulding, who he had a fling with (or so he thought) before she hooked up with Niall Horan from One Direction instead. I'm not sure how true is that article though, you could never 100% sure what you read online nowadays. Whatever it is, I hope everything goes well for him and I hope he keeps continuing on making good music.

Check out Don't MV here.


Sheppard ~ Geronimo

When I first listen to 'Geronimo', I thought it was an odd song with strange arrangement. But after awhile, the song grew on me and I thought to myself, "Hey, it is a good song!". It was truly addictive listening to the song and it was not even your typical pop song that usually have that addictive vibe. This indie pop band from Australia had even been signed with music manager, Scooter Braun (the one who discovered Justin Bieber on YouTube), for their US launch. I'm pretty sure we will be hearing a lot from this band in the future. I hope they have great success!

Enjoy Geronimo MV here.


Colbie Caillat ~ Try

This is truly an inspirational song, and it's accompanied by an inspirational music video too. Although the lyrics and music video suits more to girls and women, I don't see why boys and men can't learn something from this song too. Boys and men do face peer pressure to 'fit in' too sometimes but I have to say in these days and age, girls and women face tougher challenges and pressures amidst all these unrealistic ideas on what beauty is. Yes, we all can learn a thing or two from this song. Let our inner beauty shine everyone.

Watch Try MV here.

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan Malaysia yang ke-57!

Happy Independence Day Malaysia!

Just for information for those who don't know, Malaysia gained its independence from the British empire on 31st August 1957, and 2014 will see the 57th anniversary of the celebration. Don't know where Malaysia is? It's in South-East Asia with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines as bordering countries.

As a proud Malaysian, I pray that my country will always be in peace and harmony with all people from all walks of life, race, religion, culture and political views to come together for a better, brighter future. Together we unite.

Merdeka!

Fear Factor Malaysia season 2 winners!

I know this post is a bit late but as I always say, it's better late than never. Congratulations to Redha and Erin Malik for winning the second season of Fear Factor Malaysia. After weeks of hard (and sometimes disgusting) challenges, elimination after elimination, they emerged as winners at the final episode of this season after beating out the other 3 teams; Kairul/Nas-T, Shuib/Zakaria and Rechel/Azura. Congratulations to them!

Although for this season they are not calling it Fear Factor Celebrity Malaysia anymore (notice the removal of the word Celebrity), it's still a continuation of the previous season since we still have celebrities in this season too. This time though, the regular non-celebrity contestants were paired up with celebrities to form a team of two; there are all 16 teams separated into Group A and Group B with 8 teams in each group. Which means each team comprised of one regular contestant and one celebrity contestant. Some teams work great together while some teams...well...not so much.

Overall this season is quite good and entertaining; we have great personalities not just among the celebrities but also among the non-celebrity contestants, we have some great challenges, and we also have quite a drama with some of the contestants. I don't mind when contestants cry when they got emotional or scared but I don't really like to see contestants fight with each other. Personally, I down-right hate it, it's like the show ask me to pick sides on who I want to side with, which is not fair to be honest since this is an edited reality show which shows parts of what's really happening during the shooting and might not 100% reflect the contestants real-life behavior. So although I like this season of Fear Factor, the fighting was the one thing that I didn't quite like about the show, and fortunately it were just a few of them.

There are quite a few good teams this time around but my favourite team this season is Zain Saidin and Akmal. They were competitive, they work great together and they support each other very well. I really admire their attitude in which they didn't offend or being rude to the other teams despite their competitive spirit. There are other great contestants too like Shah Iskandar who was such a gentlemen and a good supporter to his team member, Samsuri who was such a tough competitor and excelled in most of the challenges, and Dira who has such a high spirit to continue on with the challenges despite suffering from asthma. And also there was Fify, who joined the show in the hope of winning the money to support his father who was in a coma. Her sad background story made me remember her despite her being in the team that were first to be eliminated from the show. Her story showed that it was not all fun and games for these contestants; some of them did joined the show for a great cause.

With this season being quite a good season overall, I believe they would continue with a third season. I also suspect that they will still continue bringing in celebrities like what they did with this season. Of course celebrities can help bring more viewers to the show but I hope they would try to do a normal season with all non-celebrity contestants. If Masterchef Malaysia can do it, why not Fear Factor Malaysia? And perhaps they can also try to localized Survivor as well?

Kudos to the team behind this show as well for bringing in another great season to the viewers and hopefully they will continue their hard work for another season.

Image from Fear Factor Malaysia official website.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 2 winner!

Congratulations to Sheena for winning the second season of Asia's Next Top Model! By winning the title, Sheena had won herself a Subaru XV (that's an awesome car!), a chance to be the face of TRESemmé for one of their 2014 campaign, a chance to appear in a spread and on the cover of Harper's Bazaar Singapore and Harper's Bazaar Malaysia, a three-month contract with Storm Model Management in London, and SGD50,000 cash prize. As a fellow Malaysian, I'm very proud of her achievement and she definitely had made Malaysia proud of her as well. Kudos to her.

Also congratulations to both Philippines finalists, Jodilly and Katarina, for winning second and third place in the competition. I'm sure in a lot of their fan's hearts, they are the true winners. I always knew Jodilly can go far in the competition; she took great photos and she has a great personality as well. As for Katarina, she has one of the prettiest face in the competition and she improved a lot from where she started. Out of the three finalists, I believe she's the only one without a modelling background, so she should be proud of herself because she can compete at the same level as the other two finalists despite the lack of experience in the industry.

Overall, this season is a very exciting season; wonderful contestants, amazing locations, and beautiful, gorgeous photos by the contestants. I'm hoping we can still get our Cycle 3 of the reality show and hopefully it will take us to another country for another great season.

Again, congratulations to Sheena! And also great work by those behind the scenes of this show, you guys have done a great job in making this season happen. Thank you!

Image from Asia's Next Top Model Season 2 website.

Masterchef Malaysia All Stars ~ 1st impression

Tonight is the premiere of Masterchef Malaysia All Stars on Astro Ria (ASTRO Malaysia Channel 104) and here's what I think about the TV show after watching its 1st episode.

Basically this All Stars season of Masterchef Malaysia gathers back some of the memorable contestants from Masterchef Malaysia season 1 and 2, and also Masterchef Selebriti Malaysia season 1 and 2. So it means some contestants from the original version of the show will compete alongside their celebrity counterpart from the celebrity edition of the show. Although some celebrity contestants can be larger-than-life in terms of their personality, but I think the contestants from the original version of the show should not have a problem competing with them as this is a cooking competition (not a popularity contest!) and they have their own talents as well when it comes to cooking. This is not to say that the celebrities have no talent in cooking as these crop of contestants had proved themselves before that they can definitely cook and be a tough competitor.

Some of my favourite contestants that had come back for this All Stars season are Brian, Imelda, Zamil, Celina Khor, Ary Malik and Sharifah Shahora. Although I'm a fan of the TV show, but I must admit that I didn't really watch season 2 and Celebrity season 1 of the show hence I am not really familiar with some of the contestants. But I am looking forward to watch the rest of this season as it seems that they have an interesting batch of contestants here.

For this first episode, the contestants had to prepare the same dish that got them eliminated in their previous season. It was an interesting twist as we can see how the contestants had to improvise their dish and make it a better dish than before. Raja Azmi won this round and was excluded from taking part in the next round which is the Invention Test. She were given a chance to pick two other contestants to sit out from the Invention Test and she chose Ah Hong and Karl Shafek. In the Invention Test, the remaining had to cook any type of dish but only using six ingredients. Shahriah and Celina Khor had been declared winners for this round with their dishes while six contestants will have to face Elimination Round in the next episode.

Overall, it was a fun episode and definitely got me interested to continue watching the show. And the crop of interesting contestants with their funny comments also add flavours to the show and make it even more exciting. As this is an All Stars season, I expect the challenges would be far more difficult compared to previous seasons with a few interesting twist along the way. Hopefully this will be another fantastic season for the popular cooking competition.

Image from Masterchef Malaysia website.

Yuna new single I Wanna Go ~ Awesome stuff!

Yuna is a Malaysian-born singer-songwriter who is currently working hard to expand her career in the US and so far, I might say, she's doing pretty good although she still has a long way to go. For those of you who don't know, she's the voice behind The Croods soundtrack, Shine Your Way with Owl City. She was first known through MySpace and with a strong following, entered the Malaysian music industry and became popular with songs like Yang Sebenarnya, Penakut and Terukir di Bintang. And now she's promoting and performing her music in the US after signing with a music label there.

She had just released a new single called I Wanna Go. Although I was never really a fan of her songs before (I'm more in love with her voice than her songs), but I must say, I Wanna Go is a pretty solid song, and I like it! It has good, kind-of-happy beats and Yuna's voice works perfectly well with the melody. I hope this song will get her more fans and recognition because I really think she deserves it.

You can check out her music video for I Wanna Go here. Enjoy!

Fear Factor Celebrity Malaysia ~ 1st impression

Last night was the very first episode of Fear Factor Celebrity Malaysia (Fear Factor Selebriti Malaysia in Malay) which aired on Astro Ria. Hosted by Aaron Aziz, the show which was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, will see 30 celebrity contestants paired in 15 two-member groups compete to win RM200,000. Additional to that, it was also revealed that each pair who win any of the challenges will take away RM10,000. That's a lot of money! So how do I feel about this show?

At first I thought the show started a bit abrupt. I mean the host welcomed the contestants and they immediately start the 1st challenge, without any introduction on the contestants. But then I realized it was better that way, in which they introduced the contestants before each of the team start the challenge. It will be much more efficient that way instead of introducing all the contestants in the beginning and only show the challange in the 2nd half of the show, that would definitely dragged the show down.

The host, Aaron Aziz, seemed a bit formal at first but luckily he got more loosened up after 2 or 3 teams finished their challanges. And the contestants also seemed more alive as more teams finished their turns. But I was a bit unhappy by the comments made by the contestants about their rival teams' personality (like how they react when Iz and Roslan Shah were performing their challenges) and their rivals' physical appearances (Dafi, Elfira Loy and Zoey were the victims of such comments). They may be friends and wouldn't mind for such comments but as an audience, I thought it was a bit rude. There is a fine line between being competitive and being rude, and I think the contestants should be more careful on that.

Salam Aidilfitri to all Muslims!!!

I want to wish Happy Eid ul-Fitr to all Muslims all around the world. After a month of fasting in Ramadhan, it's time to enjoy and celebrate all our hard work. It is also the time for us to show our unity and celebrate the festivity as one big family.

For those of you who are not familiar with the celebration, let me fill you in with some explanation. Eid ul-Fitr (also known as several other names in other parts of the world) is a Muslim celebration that marks the end of Ramadhan (in which the Muslims go through a fasting month). The first day of Eid ul-Fitr, which is on 1st Shawwal, Muslims will perform a 2-raka'ah prayer. There are several ways Eid ul-Fitr is celebrated  in different part of the world, but in Malaysia, people usually will go to their hometowns and ask for forgiveness from their parents, and celebrate the festivity together with family, relatives and friends. Different kind of foods are served and family and friends gather around, catching up with each other. People will also go to the cemetery to pay respect to their families and relatives who had past away and do some prayers. Kids are the one who usually have a blast celebrating as they will receive "duit raya" (gifts in form of money) from their elders.

But, with all the joy and excitement in celebrating the festivity, it is important for us to also remember those who are less fortunate than us. Remember that they are others that faced injustice and difficulties in their lives in other parts of the world. Let us all pray to Allah and hope for a brighter future for all people around the world. Amin.

Happy Aidilfitri everyone!

My Top 10 films for 2011

I watched a total of 27 movies in cinemas in 2011. Wow, that's kind of a lot. I wonder how much would that cost in money terms? As the title says, here are my top ten films for 2011 in no particular order.

1. Sucker Punch

I always love Zack Snyder movies because they are usually stunning in visual. But for Sucker Punch, not only that it was breathtakingly beautiful, it also had a good story. Add that with a powerful cast, then you have a great movie. I remember watching the first fight scene involving the main character played by Emily Browning with some evil robotic-like samurai, it caught my breath away. In short, Sucker Punch is stunning and inspiring.

2. 127 Hours

Talking about inspiring, 127 Hours is just the right movie for that. The scenes doesn't varied much and mostly revolved around the same area (he was trapped in between rocks...duh!) but that's not an issue of course. The scenes were powerful and by the end of the movie, you will definitely feel inspired. I was also amazed by the performance of James Franco as the center character who basically run the whole movie. Truly an amazing film. Bravo!

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I don't think I need to say much about this movie because I bet everyone knows how great the franchise is. Although I think Part 1 is slightly better than Part 2, this movie nevertheless gave the audience the epic finale that fans had been waiting for.

4. Thor

I never know anything about Thor before, I mean Thor the superhero. To finally know the character through this movie is good for new fans like me. Although I'm not sure how faithful the movie is to the comics, but I guess it was a good interpretation of it. The story was simple though, but good enough to keep the audience entertained. Asgard, the homeland of Thor, was beautifully visualized. The cast were great too. Nothing to complaint, really.

5. X-Men: First Class

Another superhero movie. And this time there are a bunch of them. X-Men: First Class is a great sort-of-reboot to the franchise. First of all, they have great and powerful cast; James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, etc. Next, they have great and moving plot. Then, they also have great fight scenes. I would say that they have not a single scene that were boring. In fact, some of them are really good, like when Xavier and Raven (or Mystique) first met when they were kids, or when Hank McCoy (or Beast) and Mystique had a conversation about being normal and getting rid of their 'illness'. It's not all about fight scenes for this movie, it's the story that's important. But you also get a healthy dose of action scenes in the film, so it's quite a balance between those two, a great combination I must say.

6. Paranormal Activity 2

No, no, it's not a typo. I really mean Paranormal Activity 2, not Paranormal Activity 3. The movie was released late December 2010 / early January 2011 (honestly, I don't quite remember when) in Malaysia. I watched it in January 2011, so it got into the list. I really like how the story slowly unfold and things start to go bump in the night (literally speaking). Then people were screaming, baby was crying and things moved on their own. This movie brings me chills. In case people were wondering; yes, I watched Paranormal Activity 3, and no, it's not in the list.



7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The title is kind of weird to me, but the movie was simply superb. This movie is packed with some amazing scenes. The opening scene when the mother chimp tried to protect her baby was totally good and sad. The scene when Caesar (the main chimp character) begged to Will Rodman (James Franco) to get him free from captivity was...sigh~ simply touched my heart and made me want to shed a tear. And the scene when Caesar finally spoken his first word was very, very powerful. If you haven't watch this movie yet, please, watch it. It's good. Really, really good. Watch it. Now. Go!


8. Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa

The only Asian movie in the list, this Malaysian movie is loosely based on the 16th century document of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. Also known as The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines and Clash of Empires: The Battle for Asia in other countries, the film see actors from Malaysia and other countries collaborated in a fine movie about power struggle and politics in Malay Peninsular. It also introduced Malay culture and history to the rest of the world. Not every year you can see this type of movie in Malaysia, so it's a great effort by the filmmaker.

9. Insidious

Another horror movie on the list. From the people behind the Saw franchise, Insidious certainly is one of the best horror movie that I've seen in 2011. Although I have to admit the first half of the movie is better than the second half (when the story unfold to you the reason behind everything), but overall it is a good movie with a good scare here and there. Definitely worth viewing.

10. The Thing

Wow, I really like this movie. It's a prequel to The Thing that were released in 1982. Yeah, they have same name, I know, a bit confusing to explain. The original was released even before I was born, but I remembered watching it on TV. Although I can't remember much of it, the good news is that you don't have to watch the original to appreciate the prequel. Mary Elizabeth Winstead starred in this movie, and I like her a lot, so little wonder why I love The Thing. But I don't like this movie just because of the main actress, I also like it because of the pace, story and atmosphere that it brings. And also the cast. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was in it. Did I mention that?

So there you have it, my top 10 movies of 2011. Hopefully 2012 will bring even more good movies to us. I hope you enjoy my post.

Images from Wikipedia.

What's opening in Malaysian cinemas this week?

A lot of interesting movies are being shown in Malaysian cinemas now, quite the opposite from the US where January usually would be a slow season for Hollywood movies. This in part due to our shores receiving movies that had already been released a few months back in the US, and also because we receive movies from our neighboring Asian countries as well. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant had just been released on December 31, 2009. We also have the great Avatar conquering movie theaters here in Malaysia as well, the local Malay movie Duhai Si Pari-Pari, the popular Hong Kong-comic-based movie The Storm Warriors, and also the last movie that starred Heath Ledger, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, released on the first day of the year 2010.

Quite a selection to pick from, and I didn't even mention a few others more. But what interesting movies opening in Malaysian cinemas this week?



Carriers

Another late-released movie. Never mind, at least it got here. Carriers, starring Lou Taylor Pucci, Star Trek hearthrob Chris Pine, Coyote Ugly beauty Piper Perabo, and Emily VanCamp, was released in the US back in September 2009. Set in a world of a viral pandemic outbreak, it chronicles the journey of four young adults in surviving the outbreak. The infected looks like they are turning into zombies, I bet my sister would love to see this movie. She's all about zombies...scary.



Paranormal Activity

Oh yes, the movie that created quite a buzz last year. Finally it will arrive in Malaysian cinemas tomorrow. This independent horror film had made a lot of money and considering its low budget, that's a huge amount of profits! I can't wait to see how it would perform in Asian markets.


Ju-on: White Ghost and Black Ghost

This is an interesting release. I had never heard about it before. It was actually two different horror movies that had been simultaneously released on June 2009 in Japan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ju-on series. It will be released in Malaysia tomorrow, December 7, 2009. It had been awhile since I last saw a Japanese horror film, this would be a great opportunity to do so. Hopefully it's a good movie.

I'm planning to go watch a movie with friends this Saturday but I can't decide which one would I watch. I have not yet watch quite a lot of them, so I have a lot of options. This is good! Have a great weekend everyone!

Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula ~ review

Funny and entertaining, that's all I got to say about this movie. But it's not fair for me to write a short review for such a good movie right? So here goes nothing.

Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula (or Gang: The Adventure Begins in English) is a Malaysia CG animation movie produced by Les' Copaque which recently opened in local cinemas with huge success. It follows the adventure of a group of people (teenagers & kids) in discovering the mystery behind the mass dissapearance of durian (a unique type of fruit that are planted in Malaysia and some other Asian countires) in their village's orchards.

Overall, as I said, the movie is funny and entertaining. It has diverse and likable characters with unique characterisation. When I said diverse, I mean racial and behavior wise. The movie accurately shows the environment and surrounding of a village in Malaysia and how people with different race and religion live together in harmony. It's so typically Malaysia and I love it. If this movie gets to go overseas, it can really be a stepping stone in introducing Malaysia to the world through the medium of animation.

The characters that steal the limelight in this movie, of course, the naughty twin boys, Upin and Ipin. These 2 boys are already famous among kids and adults alike in Malaysia because they already have their own animated TV series. Although they look alike, audience who are not familiar with them can still distinguish between the two not just physically (Upin has a bit of hair on his head while Ipin is bald) but also through their characterisation (Upin is obviously the leader among the two).

Characterisation is what makes this movie so diverse and unique. One character is not the same with the other. Each character also has its own unique style and habit. There is not one character that I didn't like. The voice acting is also good and helps to emphasize more on the difference of each character. The storyline is also good with humor, horror, adventure all mix in 1.

With all those praises, however, there are some few things that could be improved. While the animation is still good, but it still looks stiff when it comes to movement. I don't mind when a character run, jump, roll over, laugh, cry, et cetera2 coz they all look good to me but when it comes to dancing (yes, there is 1 part in the movie where all the villagers were dancing and singing), they look just a bit awkward. Other than that, I have nothing else to say about animation coz it's PERFECT.

Another thing that bothers me about the movie is the horror element in it. I find that the scenes involving monsters are a bit scary for kids. I love the scenes but I'm an adult so that's fine for me. One more thing is the scene where the 2 monsters fighting (the 'mother' and the giant snake) were a bit too long. I would enjoy it so much better if it was cut a bit shorter.

You can read more about the movie in Wiki and also from the official website (please note that the official website is in Malay language). You can check out the trailer of the movie, learn more about the characters, and download bunch of stuff at the site. And if you are interested to know more about durian, just click here to read about it in Wiki. ;-)

Cheap place to relax

I did mention before that I went to the beach to relax. Well, actually I didn't. I just went to a hotel NEAR the beach. I went there just for a while to visit my sisters and cousins who were passing their time there so I went swimming in the pool instead. I did plan to go to the beach but I didn't have much time.

As you can see from the pictures, it's not a grand 5-star hotel but it was quite nice. It's not as tall as other buildings but the view is kinda pretty. The last picture (the bottom one) shows the buildings that situated next to the hotel. It's a very nice place to live if you ask me. I didn't remember what the residential area is called though.

For those who don't know, Copthorne Orchid hotel is located in Penang island of Malaysia. So if you're traveling here and want to find a (kinda) cheap place to stay and with a nice view, I think this one should suit you.

Sweet memories

Just want to share with you guys pics of Kapas Island (Pulau Kapas) in Malaysia. I was there last year spending my time together with my best friends. We swam till our skin burned, we played volleyball, we had barbecue, and we also played our own version of Survivor!

It was a fun vacation, and quite cheap too since we brought along our own food, and spend the nights in the camps (no resort please!). I wish I could go there again. ;-)

HELP!!!

Oh my God. I'm stuck in the office and I'm soooooo HUNGRY! I want to eat!!! That's why I post the pic above. Just to torture myself even more. It's a nice Malaysian food called nasi lemak. If only someone would bring me one right now...sigh.

Anyway, I got the pic from the website below. Just click the link to go there.

I can't type anymore. I need energy. I need food...

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/malaysia-gourmet-foods.htm