Lead the way: September 2009

Art goes straight to the heart.

Incredible sand art by Kseniya Simonova. She won the Ukrainian version of 'Britain's Got Talent' this year. In this demonstration, she uses sand art to convey the German invasion and occupation of Ukraine during World War II.

The audience cried watching this. I didn't feel what they did because I have never experienced what they had. But watching this makes me understand how art can truly strike a person's heart.

The speed and accuracy of her fingers are simply amazing. You can tell how much effort she puts into her demonstrations because she uses different compilations of sounds and music to go along with her art. I'm not sure about this but she probably would have edited the music herself. The combination of music and art is just ... WOW.

This is probably my tenth time watching it. But I'm still not tired of it. There are several other sand arts she did on the show. Do check out the videos on YouTube. Enjoy!

"Having a baby makes me soft!"

It's back to reality after a week's mid-semester break. Initially we had three things due this Friday: a case study for Journalism Ethics and a two-part article critique for International Media Communications media forum.

The media forum is a limited time assignment which requires us to post our critique on the article posted online just yesterday. The critique is due tomorrow. Plus, we have to look through all our classmates' critique pieces and choose one to write a peer evaluation paper on it, due less than two days later as well. This, plus the Journalism Ethics case study which requires us to analyse a newspaper article comparing the reporting to basic journalism code of ethics.

Firstly, FINDING the article is a pain. Although we had a couple of weeks, it's not easy to find a suitable article. Of course, we admit it is our own fault for our shameful procrastination. We didn't bother asking for an extension because we knew it is hopeless.

But this time we were REALLY desperate, especially when she asked us why we all looked so stoned in class today. We tried our luck. She refused. Later on, after pleading desperately, she demanded for a concrete reason on why we should be granted an extension. After much reasoning and debate, she finally gave in. YAY! But we have to promise quality work with the extra time given.

She later yelled out in frustration, "Having a baby makes me soft!". Quote of the day!

Thank You, Lord! Thank you Ms G! After experiencing something very disappointing today, I have definitely learned my lesson. I promise I will work 100 times harder and stop procrastinating!

And one more thing, the new neighbours are moving in in a few months' time. They just started doing some major renovation today. The noise is killing me. I don't know how am I gonna do my work in the next couple of weeks. But I definitely won't be staying home much during the day! Anybody willing to let me crash their place for a few hours? =S

Cravings fulfilled.

For the past week, I went on a couple of trips with our newly formed group, The Makan Kakis, and ate what seemed like a whole month's worth of food.

First stop, Louisiana @ Plaza Kelana Jaya all-you-can-eat pasta for only RM14.90!

Andrea has been telling me about this place for a few weeks. Ever since I told Ee Leen about it, we told ourselves we have to try it soon. And since she didn't have class on Fridays and my afternoon classes were cancelled for the day, we went ahead along with Jon, Pei Yi and Cheryl.

The lunch hour promotion was only from 11.30am to 3pm. We wanted to make full use of the time, so we left early and arrived shortly after it started. The soup wasn't even prepared yet!

Besides pasta, the set also includes a glass of non-refillable Iced Lemon Tea, salad and a scoop of ice-cream. We were lucky to have hot tea on the house that day.

Jon decided not to take up the challenge. So he ordered a plate of Chicken Chop for himself. He was surprised at how much we girls ate that day. But the poor guy had to wait a couple of hours for us to digest all those pasta. Did I mention Ee Leen, Pei Yi and I ate four plates each, and Cheryl had three? That's 15 plates by four girls in three hours.

Now, here comes the spaghetti!

Chicken Smoked Sausage. I added a little too much hot sauce, which made it even more sour. Funny how the 'hot' sauce wasn't hot at all.

Mexican Aglio Olive. This was my favourite. Simple, yet tasty. Ee Leen ordered this as her first plate and she finished it in like five minutes! The waitress came immediately to take her next order.

Creamy Pesto White Fish. Now, this plate was a bit of a challenge. The pesto sauce was pretty much tasteless. No matter how much 'hot' sauce I added, it still tasted the same. The fried fish was nice though. This was Cheryl's third and last plate. It took her a very long time to finish it. I didn't blame her. We still had plenty of time left. So I told her to eat the spaghetti strand by strand, she would be able to finish in time. And she did! Hahaha.

Beef Bolognaise. Sorry, I mixed it immediately and forgot to take a picture. Guess I was too full and confused. This plate was much better than the previous. It was my last one and it took me about half an hour to finish it. Regret ordering the Creamy Pesto! >.<

Chicken Carbonara. Pei Yi ordered this as her last plate. Our strategy for the day was to eat the ones with sour and appetizing sauces before moving on to the creamy ones later. Although I usually like Carbonara, I couldn't take another plate of creamy spaghetti. We really salute Pei Yi for being able to down the whole plate. You should have seen her. We were shocked at how much she could eat! And she still looked fine and was back to her hyper self on the journey back in the car, torturing Cheryl. Hahaha!

It was only one scoop, but I didn't complain. Tasted like the regular Walls ice-cream.

Our stomachs were totally bloated after that. Four plates of pasta is no joke. Don't try this at home! Seriously, when we were almost done, one of the waitress came to our table with the wrong order and asked if anyone ordered another Chicken Carbonara. I almost puked the moment I heard that. >.<

We had a little bit of time left. We were too full to do anything else. Managed to catch a fly and trap it in the glass. We watched it drown in the Iced Lemon Tea. Such sadists ... =p

We sat right beside the Kelana Lake! The view was so nice and the weather was great! Love the tiny breeze we had while eating. The girls commented it looked like we were on a ship instead. Watching the water flow made it seemed like we were moving! I got a little dizzy after a while, thank God I sat on the inner seat. Pei Yi said it could be the restaurant's strategy to make their customers feel seasick and not eat so much of their pasta. Hahaha!

After dropping Jon at church, we accompanied Ee Leen to run some errands in Taipan. Walked into a couple of boutiques as well. And guess what? We felt a little hungry after that! XD So we dropped by 100Yen shop for their famous shaved ice.

Mango Shaved Ice. Sweet!

Full review up @ FLAVALOGY!

Next trip, Tenji Japanese Buffet!!! I finally came to my first Japanese buffet meal, at promotion price!

Pei Yi invited Ee Leen, Cheryl and I for the special Raya promotion meal. She had initially booked for her family, but couldn't make it at the end. So, like Ee Leen said, we were invited to be her 'parents' for the day! Hahaha.

We got lost along the way because of failed signboards and Google Maps. Thank God Ee Leen called Jon, he helped us check the map online. And thanks to Pei Yi's knowledge of some roads, we managed to find the place just a little after the lunchtime started. We could eat up until 4pm. WOOHOO~!

Don't expect too many pictures because I was too busy eating. You should thank me for saving your saliva by looking at less pictures of food. =p

FINALLY!

Our first round, followed by about five more rounds of endless food after that!!!

I had four drinks in total that day. The fresh coconut is definitely a must-have in Tenji. It is soooo refreshing! And they didn't run out of supply, not until towards the end of the session. I had three of those. We sat right next to the drinks counter and chocolate fondue counter. It was very convenient for us to sneak more drinks and desserts. I wouldn't recommend the self-service fruit juices because they aren't very fresh.

Cheryl helped me to order this from the counter. She had to wait in line for it though. This is my mango-flavoured ice-blended drink with little kiwi seeds.

Cheryl had the same and Pei Yi had the dragon fruit flavour. Ee Leen almost freaked out after we placed it in front of her when she came back to her seat. Hahaha! I wanted to try another flavour, which was the lime and syrup. The drink is in blue! Such a pretty colour. But I was too full to have anymore drinks.

Marshmallow chocolate fondue. Heavenly! Pei Yi wanted to make a pretty pattern, but failed. Guess she was too excited! =p

She brought these from the other dessert counter. As we were queuing up later for ice-cream, Ee Leen and I suddenly wondered how on earth did Pei Yi carry all those plates by herself. She didn't wanna reveal her secret. -_-

And did I mention they DID NOT HAVE HAAGEN DAAZ?! Nooooo... that's like one of the main highlights here! Maybe it was because of the promotion. Pfft.

Oh well. At least we still had Baskin Robbins (Oh Stanley... XD). We waited in line for some 30 minutes for it! While waiting, I couldn't help staring at the cookies. They kept the temperature for the cookie storage at 42 degrees and above. I just HAD to try the Cinnamon Chocolate Chip cookies.

One of my favourites was the Garlic Chicken. This was one of the dishes we had to order. Each of us had our own metal clip with our table numbers written on it. All you have to do is drop the clips in the bowl prepared in some of the dishes. We expected them to take a really long time because there were so many people. But some of the dishes came even before we got back to our table! Hahaha.

Another favourite, raw salmon slices. No words could describe this! Ee Leen and I enjoyed it a lot. We were a little disappointed with the lobster though. They just had to make it into a seafood salad dish. We couldn't barely taste the flesh. This reminds me of Langkawi earlier this year. =(

The clams were awesome too. And I loooove the baby octopus. The sauce was delicious. And the sushi... who can complain about their sushi? Just awesome! But our wasabi dried up almost immediately because of the air condition. -_____-

Oh! Another complain we have was the fire for our mini steamboat thing. It took us ONE HOUR to cook the tiny wok of vegetables and some other stuff. But the fire was blowing towards every other direction but directly under the wok, again because of the strong air condition. Everything just tasted so weird, as though it was overcooked and undercooked at the same time. Sigh...

Overall, I really enjoyed this meal! We totally ate our money's worth. Totally satisfied my Japanese food cravings for a while. I was also very impressed with their service. Despite the number of tables they have to serve, we had people constantly collecting our used plates and attending to our concerns. Efficient workers indeed!

It was very filling, but at least it wasn't as bad as the pasta session. Cheryl was VERY full. She walked around the restaurant expressionless for quite a few rounds to try to digest. Apparently some aunties saw her and couldn't help laughing. Poor girl... hehehe.

Thank you Pei Yi for inviting us!

Next round, anyone? Don't tell me pasta, because I currently have a phobia which will probably last until the end of the year. But I wouldn't mind another round of Japanese food. Because my Japanese food cravings will never end! Or maybe Korean BBQ? ^_^

First round of assignments DONE!

Time for de-stressing... Haha!

The stocking punishment is hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing for 10 minutes straight watching this.

Jay ... ='(

15Malaysia

The cameos by the politicians and celebrities are funny. And the random Amber Chia moment, haha!

For more short films, visit http://www.15Malaysia.com.

Happy 090909 everybody!!! =D

Netizens, worst than the paparazzi.

Ridiculous.

I didn't expect this issue to be blown way out of proportion until I saw the suicide petitions going around. WHAT?! I know it's becoming such a 'trend' for celebrity suicides lately. But you can't force one to do it just because he said some bad things about his OWN country when he wasn't even thinking straight. And he apologised! For something he did out of frustration FOUR YEARS AGO. But no, this wasn't enough.

As a leader, he decided to take up the responsibility and lift the burden of his members by resigning. And it hasn't even been a year since they debuted!

And the most ironic thing about this is now the netizens actually regret overreacting. But it's too late! Over 1000 fans sent Jay Park a.k.a. Jaebum at the airport today, 1000 screaming and crying fans. o_0

I hope he'll stay strong and come back as a better person. DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE TREND, Jay!

I love watching him and the boys in Wild Bunny. Such a crazy bunch of celebrities who are not bothered about their 'perfect' image at all as an idol group.

JYP, you just lost an incredibly talented artist. I don't know what's gonna happen to the group. I just hope Jay will come back to them.

2PM, fighting!

Battle of the rookies!

SM Entertainment unleashes is newest girl group - f(x)!

Good singers and dancers. Two of them are Chinese! You'll definitely notice a unique member in this group. And no, she's not a guy. She's Amber, the rapper. And she's ABC! She really reminds me of Coffee Prince. No surprise there. lol

Funny how the cheers for Amber were extra loud during her parts, and from fangirls! lol

This year is definitely interesting after watching rookie girl groups debuting one by one. I don't know why the sudden explosion of girl groups. But 2NE1 is obviously the most powerful one at the moment. They can easily be considered professionals by now!

However, I would love to see how f(x) will do (Talk about Math equations! f(x), 2NE1, 4Minute) because SM never fails to produce quality artists. Can't wait for tomorrow's performance!

Lacha, lacha, ta, ta, ta~~~

There goes another one of my fangirling moments.

I love K-pop. Get over it. XD

Never leave your partner behind.

The Froggies were at my house last night to watch a movie recommended by Aunty Beng Choo.

If you liked Facing the Giants, you'll definitely like this movie.

Fireproof speaks about life after marriage, that it's not always happily ever after. It tells the story of a marriage during its most critical period and heading towards divorce. It teaches people every marriage is worth rescuing if only you would put your whole heart into it and ask God to teach us how to love like how He first loved us.

This isn't your typical romantic comedy. And most of you reading this entry probably aren't married. But the movie isn't only meant for married couples. Everyone can watch it and relate to it. It's not just about love and marriage. It also talks about relationships, how it is very important to have a vertical relationship with God before we work on our horizontal relationship with others.

We watched some of the special features in the DVD after the movie and I finished the rest of the behind the scenes clips this morning. Those footages are probably the most detailed 'Making of' I have ever seen in any movie. And I loved every moment of it.

Did you know Facing the Giants and Fireproof were produced by Sherwood Baptist Church? And did you know the church actually has a movie ministry of its own??? That's so cool! Wouldn't it be great if we could start making Christian movies in local churches here? Fireproof grossed over USD6 million in its opening weekend and over USD33 million in the States alone. They only had a small budget of USD500,000!!! I know this would be tough to achieve here in Malaysia, but nothing is impossible, right?

The best part about this movie is that the entire cast and crew were volunteers. They started each day of filming with a time of prayer together. The movie was also a testimony of God's provision because every location used was donated. Isn't that great? There was once when they were filming a scene of a burning house, the local fire department and news station actually came to the location thinking that it was a real fire! Hahaha.

The special features were fun to watch. They actually had a whole segment dedicated to jokes and pranks they played on each other, most of them done by the producers and directors! They totally changed the definition of FUN at the movie set. This really makes me wanna be a part of movie productions even more! Hopefully inspiring ones like this.

So, if you haven't seen the movie, do grab a copy of the original DVD. Even if you're not a believer, I can guarantee that you'll have at least one thing you can get out of this movie. =)