Monday, March 31, 2008

Mois, MTV night, Key Ng fashion show, Malaysia Dreamgirl

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the event. I loathe bringing in my camera to a club, because I think it'll become infested with smoke. I did make it in time to see some of the pseudo-famous people/personalities in Malaysia, Amber Chia and Hannah Tan. I even had a close encounter of the Amber Chia kind. Didn't even recognize her in all her make up and clothes. She was standing right in front of me. When I did realize that it was her, she was already leaving the area.

Amber Chia

Hannah Tan

As we all know, Malaysia has pseudo-famous celebrities, aka bloggers, politicians, VJs, radio DJs. I say pseudo because I don't get the wow factor when I see them. If a Tom cruise, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, or even a Paris Hilton showed up at MOIS, Penang, I think I would get wowed. It was slightly surreal seeing the local media come to life, but they definitely lack the wow factor.

So, I was kind of impressed with some of the models for the Key Ng fashion show. I counted at least four of the women models were tall, statuesque, and close to world class, giving me the impression of a really decent event. Although, I'm not a really great judge of models, at least in the dark they looked the part of world class. Seeing this and the Malaysia Dream Girls web TV show, man I got to say, the quality of people are worlds apart.

Malaysia Dreamgirls

I started watching today, and now I'm going to stop. I'm not sure how over a hundred thousand Ringgit in prizes could not attract really talent such as the ones I've seen Saturday night. The talent exists, because I saw quite a few of them. Maybe, instead of a Nissan car as the top prize, a Mercedes Benz. Now that'll attract quite a few of them, I think! The show should really be called "put a bunch of cute girls in a house and let them try some modeling gigs."


This should attract some really nice models :)

Truthfully, I don't even like Key Ng stuff, I've browsed the outlet in one Utama before, and their items don't impress me that much. But if they can get pretty decent models for their show, I think it exposes Malaysia Dream Girls pretty badly.

Not all this blog is commentary, After the event Mois got closed on account of police shut down. The club was starting up after the MTV event, then after a while, the lights came on. I thought to myself, this seems an awful lot like closing time. About 20 minutes later, they closed the place down. It was a big surprise, no IC checks or anything. I heard a pretty serious event happened the night before, probably the reason why it was shut down. They should have just shut it down earlier. At least we wouldn't have to spend on booze and then cut short the night.

So a pretty early end to a night at MOIS. I went to a place called Hungry Duck just down the road to chill and relax a bit.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Dinner at Spicy Chicken BBQ and Movie night: Be Kind Rewind

Last night my friend Matt, his girlfriend Ching Fern, and I went for dinner and a movie. I suppose I was the third wheel on this date. But as they have been together so long, I guess they didn't mind a little extra company. At least that it was I told myself heheh. Anyhow, we were supposed to eat at pasta mania, but decided to try a place called Spicy BBQ Chicken at the ground floor of Gurney Plaza.

Apparently this place is a Korean fast food chain of sorts. I've walked past the restaurant several times and have had no desire to go in. I had the impression the place was a KFC wannabe. All I saw was fried chicken from the outside. Furthermore, the name Spicy BBQ Chicken doesn't really make sense to a western mentality mind such as the one that I have. Just sounds weird. But I was in a sporting mood, and my friend seemed quite upbeat about trying it out. So I was game as well.

The restaurant is nice enough, but the impression from the outside is just kinda weird. Anyhow, I'll be glad to report that the menu displays quite a variety of chicken. But be prepared for pretty much chicken when eating there. I didn't see any other types of meat. There's a lot of choices other than fried. There is Jerk chicken, BBQ Korean chicken, spicy bbq chicken, grilled, fried, etc. I feel an alternative to fried chicken is something missing from fast food places here. The restaurant fills that void pretty well. Although, I would say it's a step above places like KFC. I would consider the restaurant quite similar to kfc. The chicken dishes come with mashed potatoes and coleslaw as a side dish. In the end, I quite liked the place. A meal will probably end up costing 15 to 20 RM per person.

Well anyways, we took some pictures at the place.



Here's me.



Matt with Ching Fern. Matt showing some pearly whites :)



Matt with Ching Fern in a relaxed pose.



Here's me with my arm around a real imaginary girl. She's imaginary, because she isn't there; but at the same time she does exist in real life somewhere in Germany. I didn't randomly choose her and this is me with my arm around her.

.....I think half of you would slap me, and the other half would just look at me funny. Oh..also we shared a bottle of water. XD


Anyhow, the movie, Be Kind Rewind is kinda nice, but gets a bit boring in the end. "Be Kind Rewind" is the name of the video store, it's a cute name because people always forget to rewind their video tapes before returning it to the video rental store. The movie is about these guys who make home movies and pose them as real movies for rental. This was because the movies were blanked out when Jack was magnetized and they had to fix the situation. Jack Black is what really makes the movie work. He's really funny. I think without him, the movie would definitely fail. His impromptu comedy acting is just so hilarious. Movies like this, really bring the actor's skills to the forefront. Anyhow, watch it if you are a Jack Black fan, for his excellent comedy skills.


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Easiest way to the mile high club

Here in Asia, people are more familiar with the term kilometer. The metric system is in effect. But when one refers to the term "mile high", "kilometer high" doesn't quite cut it. A mile has approximately 1,609 meters. A mile has exactly 5,280 feet. An airplane generally quotes their altitude in feet during the flight. So the "mile high" refers to being at a mile high in the sky or 5,280 feet at least.

The only way to join the "mile high" club is to be at least a mile high in the sky, generally in an airplane, doing the dirty deed. I suppose it is possible with other modes of flying such as a helicopter, hang glider, or hot air balloon. Imagine joining the "mile high" club in a hot air balloon.



Anyways, there are some famous people who have joined the mile high club. Richard Branson, founder and owner of Virgin company, has claimed to join the club at the age of 19. Pretty quick I think. Probably a mile high milestone: youngest person to join. The play on words were intended =D He also now has his own fleet of planes to do the dirty deed in if he chooses. Can't do that? Why not? he owns them.


There are businesses which offer the opportunity to do so, although i'm sure part of joining the club is the thrill. The thrill isn't quite the same in a small propeller plane as in the cabin of a jet plane with hundreds of people around.


So after the dirty deed is done, usually the couple will walk down the aisle of shame, better known as the aisle of the airplane cabin. It's quite difficult to conceal such an act. People have eyes and a brain. They'll notice if two people are in the lavatory.


But that could be a thing of the past. The new A380 has individual private cabins with beds. So those wanting to go to the mile high club without the usual walk down the aisle of shame could do so with privacy.


First class cabin of the Singapore airlines A380

Congratulations to Singapore Air for making the A380 a pleasurable flight in more ways than one. Apparently, Singapore Air has explicit instructions to ask those who engage in such activities to desist. They claim the cabins aren't sound proof, but the easy way to get around such a thing is to just be quiet =D


Thursday, March 13, 2008

American Football, Malaysian style

In the US, American Football is extremely popular. To the rest of the world, football is known as the sport which people play with a round ball. This is what the American football looks like:


Quite different eh? But those who play rugby might understand as there are some similarities. So, the objective of the game is for one team to move the ball to the other end of the field, thus scoring points. The catch is they only have a limited amount of opportunities to do so. Anyhow, the game is usually played wearing a lot of protective gear such as the one this guy is wearing:



Yes, that is David Beckham in American Football gear, only thing missing is the helmet...heheh. Anyhow, the two ways to advance the football, is to throw it or to run it down. When a team decides to run it down, the runner, known as a running back stays in the back and is given the ball and tries to advance while the other team tries to stop him.

The chances of the other team successfully doing that is quite high as the opposing team has eleven defenders all gunning for the running back. So, how does the running back overcome such odds? One of the most common ways is to follow behind some of his teamates who are in front of him . This is called follow the blocker. The running back's teammates are helping to clear a path for him.

A lot of people here seem to have this concept down pretty well but most have never heard of the game. Where have we seen this follow the blocker concept in Malaysia?

I bet almost everyone has seen this at least once in the last month, unless they never go out. Who is the blocker in this case?



And the running back?



For some reason, quite a few people here, especially drivers, like to play the follow the blocker game with the ambulances a lot. That concept is one of the most basic in American Football. I have a feeling the sport will take off here if there were some marketing muscle behind it. I see a lot of people having fun following the blocker on the road very often.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Fear rules Malaysia: Election night

Election night.....the night after polls have closed. Rumors of unrest spreads throughout the nation. I have decided that for my readers I will attempt to brave the streets of Penang and bring them an account straight from experience.

I initially was set to leave my place at 11.15 pm, but was delayed because my friend's cellphone could not be reached. Stupid Digi. I kept getting a "cannot get the number". Digi should get better transmission towers at the Garage area, after all that is a rather popular area that people frequent to. So at 12.00 am, I finally get through.

"Yo, are you at MOIS?"

"Yeah man...go DAP!"

"Alright I'll be there in a short while."

He's the guy I know for the VIP section. I'm not about to go to club at MOIS outside of the VIP section. I'm spoilt...hehe.

I drove the streets, empty like a ghost town. When I arrived at MOIS, I found it pretty empty. In fact our group had the entire VIP section for ourselves the whole night. The main area had a small crowd.

The ride back home from the club brought no suprises either. I hardly saw anything happening. The lone police road block I ran into looked even less serious. Half of them were sleeping! LOL. A lot of excitement there! Even the Mat rempit weren't out causing their usual havoc.

There you have it...I think election night is THE SAFEST night to go out. No mat rempit, no traffic, no crazy drivers that certainly roam around on almost every normal weekend. Even the polling stations I passed were empty.

Nights like these where everyone is afraid to go out makes me think of a phrase "airplanes are so dangerous". When in fact airplanes are the safest mode of transportation in the world. A person is more likely to die in a car, bus, walking, etc than in an airplane.

So anyways, election night was pretty uneventful. And pretty safe I think. Not even the police bothered to show strength and for what also...everywhere was empty!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

A great business idea!

Lately, I've been at the local airport looking at a potential business opportunity. I'll just have this to say, the parking is really expensive. Half an hour is 1 RM. 5 hours makes it 10 RM. And get this, it is full almost all the time. What if you wanna park at the airport and get daily rates. Like park, pay 5 RM per day. I think it would be popular here because Penang has a lot of rip off cabbies. Why pay a cab 50 RM for a short business trip when you can park your car there for a few days and pay 20 RM.

What a great moneymaker! Buy some of the land around the airport (usually cheap because the land is usually in a remote area), provide free shuttle service to the airport from the lot and watch the money roll in! Undercut the airport parking spots. That is definitely the way to go hehheh.

Maybe it would be better in klia airport as Penang is way too far.

Also, prices in the airport are marked up like crazy. I went for a meal there with my friend at Nandos. It ended up costing RM 45. We ordered salad, sandwich, and two drinks....omg. Insane. A similar meal at the shopping mall would have cost around RM30.