Energy savers

The recent fuel price hike has lead to increase in prices of food and other consumer goods. Here's more bad news - come 1 July 2008, TNB will be revising its electricity tariff. In light of the above, NST has published a list of common household items and it’s power consumption and guess which item came out top in the list?

Sony’s Playstation 3 came out #1 in the list, followed closely by Microsoft’s Xbox 360. (no wonder bro’s PS3 generates so much heat when it’s playing LOL)

bro's PS3 - the #1 energy guzzler in the house

Another major energy guzzler household item is the plasma TV so if you're seriously thinking of cutting back on your next electricity bill, forget the plasma HDTV, your old bulky CRT telly is gonna save you a lot more on your next bill.

And you might wanna trade in your Xbox or PS3 for a Wii.

Puzzle master

Since my last entry I've been busy playing Professor Layton and I've finally completed the game! It took me 4 days to complete it. I was gonna give up on the game but the puzzles kept me playing LOL.

Here are some really good ones-

Am eagerly anticipating Part 2. There are 3 games in the series and Part 2 has just been released in Japan but have yet to be localised for international release. It's kinda odd to watch the trailer below in Japanese when the game is set in England with British characters. I hear there is a movie based on the game in the works. Now that should be interesting..

Professor Layton

Moving on from Lego Indy to a more intellectual game on the DS.. hehe.. Professor Layton and the Curious Village didn’t quite turn out to be what I had expected. The graphics is pretty.. when you watch the cut scenes it feels like you’re watching an English anime, but once the game gets going.. it’s a whole different story.

The game revolves around Layton, a Professor (cum archeologist!) with his lil sidekick Luke who turns up at a village to solve a mystery of a dead man’s will. The entire games revolves around various puzzles and these are no ordinary puzzles.. the first few were a breeze but the subsequent ones had me stumped.. it’s like sitting for an IQ test on the DS. I think they should rename the game “Professor Layton and his Bastard Puzzles” :P This is one game that’s strictly for Mensa geeks.

I think I am gonna move on to the next Phoenix Wright game

Welcome Net

Wanna extend a warm welcome to Net to the community of bloggers.

Happy blogging and don’t forget to share your interesting stories and pics :D

Net's Circle of Life

Jam Hsiao

What do Aska Yang, Jam Hsiao and Yoga Lin have in common other than being reality show heroes? The answer is Ashin. All three have had a helping hand from Ashin; Ashin designed Yoga's new tour tee under his Stay Real label and wrote a song for Aska [Yang Cong - I absolutely love that song].

Jam Hsiao's self-titled debut album was released in Taiwan last week and features amongst others; songs written by Gary Cao Ge, F.I.R, Sodagreen's Qing Feng and Mayday's Ashin. I have not heard the rest but I downloaded Ashin's composition for Jam titled "Teng Ai/疼愛" which didn't sound too bad but personally I feel that Aska's Yang Cong is a much better song.

2008 MTV Asia Awards

Baby J's MTV Asia Awards voting fever has finally caught on to me LOL. Voting began sometime last week (?) and I only started voting yesterday evening. Primarily due to the fact that I haven't been spending much time online of late. Anyhow I finally registered at the MTV Asia Awards site and casted a few round of votes for Mayday for Favourite Artist Taiwan. So far it looks like it's a neck to neck competition between Jolin Tsai and Show Lo, both of whom are leading the race with an almost equal percentage of votes [42% each] S.H.E are currently at the bottom of the table [with just under 6%], and Mayday aren't too far behind them [9.5%].

Voters are only allowed to cast votes every 10 minutes. I see Baby J has downloaded a timer online. I am putting my dad's old Seiko timer to good use hehe. It's been sitting in the shelf for as long as I can remember - I don't know why he bought it in the first place. but it comes in real handy now. I set the alarm to go off every 10 mins after casting my vote :D

Me and Pusanna

Pu just sent me this pic we took together the other day. See the big grin on yours truly's face? That pic was taken at the Asiaworld Arena in Hong Kong right after the Mayday concert on May 31st (hence the grin LOL) Pu is a mega Monster fan (oooo Baby J watch out :P)

It was Pu helped me out with the concert tix and stuff. I just wanna say a big THANK YOU for everything - I had a great time. I last saw her in August 2006.. it was really good to see her again :D

I've got a new watch

I’ve got a new watch and it’s a Tissot chronograph! =] I don’t know why I bought a chronograph watch when I have absolutely no need for that function (actually I don’t even know how to use it) but the model without the chronograph looked so ordinary – the chronograph version is an absolute beauty!



The watch comes housed in a sturdy box which weighs almost as much as a mini brick.. together with a paperback on the history of the watchmaker.. hmm.. I might read it when I’m really bored




While hunting for the watch, I must have glanced at hundreds of different models – the Longines ones were really classy (but out of my budget) My mid-end Titus that I wear to work everyday for the past 2+ years is plain ol' dull.. so I wanted something with a higher build quality. Something Swiss. In the end I got the Tissot chronograph for RM1,390 with a cool 25% discount.

Whippin' Piccadilly

While we're on the subject of Gomez (well I did bring up Ian Ball in my previous entry) I thought I'd show ya'll my limited edition Bring It On CD [Gomez's debut album which won the prestigious Mercury Prize award in 1998 for "British Album of The Year"] Mind you, this isn't the standard version - this baby is a rare gem. What more with Hut Recordings, the band's original record label now defunct, the only Gomez back catalogue CDs you'd find are the newly pressed ones under the EMI label. Reissues are a big no-no for CD junkies LOL.

Not your average conventional indie band, these guys combine a whole lot of electronic elements in their music. Onstage, they are a ball (no pun intended :P) of fun. I've seen them on at least 3 different occasions in various Euro locations. They have a tendency to play really long sets - to the point of "extending" each song up to 10 mins (!)

This song reminds me of being a student:-

It features a fresh-faced Ian, who now look like the scruffy Big Issue seller down in Piccadilly Circus LOL

Something old something new

Over the past week or so I have been clearing my room and shelves, getting rid of my old books and CDs. I emptied one of my bookshelf into 3 boxes - paperbacks from my schooldays which have turned all brown, and freckled. They smell too, of very musty old paperbacks. I can't seem to figure out what to do with them, which secondhand bookstore would wanna buy them off from me :P Throwing them out would be a shame..I guess for now it's gonna sit in the store for the next few years.

I'm selling off some of my CDs.. (I've an obscene number of duplicates LOL)

Meanwhile I am awaiting my order from HMV.. what's up with the Ian Ball "Who Goes There" CD that's currently out of stock at the store?

must be an old school pic LOL

Happy Father's Day

Dad's birthday is conveniently around the same time as Father's Day so we'd always buy one cake for the double celebration =)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

This year we celebrated Father's Day 2 days earlier to avoid the Sunday crowd. After much deliberation, we decided to try out Bubba Gump Shrimp Company at the Curve. The whole concept about the restaurant inspired by the Forrest Gump movie is rather interesting. Note: they even have a small shop right beside the restaurant selling Bubba Gump merchandise!

When we got there around 7:30PM, the place was packed. Since we didn't have reservation we had to wait for the next available table. Once we were seated, "Dr Bombay" came to take our order. A rather stocky Indian chappy [who probably had one too many shrimps.. ha ha ha] I couldn't tell if he was local cos his English was heavily laced with an Indian accent I can barely understand. Half the time I was trying to figure out what he was saying.

While waiting for our food to arrive, Dr Bombay had to come over again and quiz us with Forrest Gump movie trivias (!!!) First he asked if we had seen Forrest Gump the movie (why of course even both my parents have seen it) then he started to ask a series of Forrest Gump movie trivias.. I strained my ears to catch what he was asking and it didn't help that we were sitting outdoor thus it was really noisy. Luckily the food arrived in the nick of time after he had asked the second question.

On each table there's a metal bucket filled with various bottles of sauce, a roll of paper napkin and that bucket is attached to a ping pong bat with the drinks and dessert menu on it. The restaurant has a really unique paging system for its waiters consisting of two license plates with blue "Run Forrest Run" and red "Stop Forrest Stop". If you need to call for a waiter, just flip the plate over to "Stop Forrest Stop".

Bubba Gump serves mostly seafood though I did see a few chicken and steak items on the menu. I didn't find the food particularly tasty but the portions are huge [at that price they'd better be] and the service is pretty efficient. The peanut butter smoothie is yummy! :)

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get"

Lego Indiana Jones

The reason why I woke this morning with a really sore left Nintendo thumb was cos of this new Indiana Jones game that I'm currently playing. I have not played the DS this intensely since Phoenix Wright Justice For All. No kidding I am talking about 4 hours of solid gameplay :)

The game is so cute (you can probably tell from the above boxart). It's got the entire trilogy in it and I am almost finish with the Raiders of The Lost Ark chapter. Just imagine watching the movie with Lego characters LOL. It's even got the infamous scene from the Lost Temple where Indy steals the idol and make a dash out of the temple with the giant boulder closing on him.. and who could ever forget the fight scene in Cairo with Indy taking down his sword-spinning foe with just a single gunshot?

I can't wait till I get to the minecart chase in Temple of Doom :D

Weezer are back!

My fave American band is back with a new album [Red Album] and judging by its cover I think they've gone in the same musical direction as Jay Chou LOL. Note campy Village People inspired clothing

I have two Weezer albums in my collection, namely the Green Album and the Blue Album, which I've got the Deluxe Edition double disc edition with a bonus disc of b-sides. Great debut album with b-sides almost as good, if not better than the A-sides.

Anyone old enough to remember their "Buddy Holly" MV from your old PC? If you had bought a PC with Windows 95 way back then, you may recall that your PC came preloaded with that MV :)

Speaking of new releases, here's another one to look out for: Coldplay's Viva La Lida Or Death and All His Friends due out in mid June.

Travis in HK

While in HK last weekend, I came across Travis concert posters in the MTR station. I had no idea they were on a world tour right now.. the last time they were around this region on tour was several years back when they played Singapore with Coldplay.

Travis is playing Asiaworld Expo on July 31st (ohh same venue as Mayday's HK concert LOL on a much smaller scale though judging from the seating plan) Ticket price range from HK$780 to HK$480. And it looks like their Welsh counterpart, Stereophonics will be staging their HK concert the weekend before Travis.

I think the last time I saw Travis live was at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium.. wonder if they plan to head to KL on their current tour?

Baby J's CD haul

I went to Victoria at Sg Wang today to pick up Mayday CDs for Baby J with Abby. I managed to pick up 6 CDs in total for her - 4 studio albums, 1 compilation and 1 live CD. Not bad eh? Now if you can send me another RM400 I can clear the remaining Mayday CDs and DVDs left at the store :P

Over lunch at Carl's Jr, Abby couldn't take her hands off the Mayday CDs and even attempted to open them to have a look. She wanted to borrow the CDs and take them home to listen. In an attempt to open the 知足 CD, I recorded the following video: (absolutely hilarious!)

Weekend CD shopping spree

After a weekend shopping spree in HK, looks like this weekend will be no different.. except I will be shopping for CDs instead.

Now then, I wonder how much have I spent on my Mayday collection? :P

My guess is it's probably more than enough to pay for a return airticket to HK (!!)

my modest 五月天 collection

Random commercial

Just watched this Mass Mutual Mercuries Life commercial.

I hate insurance sales agents but I'd buy a policy from the cutie in pink shirt anyday :D

HK trip May 2008

The weather in HK last weekend was wet and cool, ranging from a low of 24C to 30C. It rained almost everyday! Luckily I had packed my new brolly along.

dreary HK

olympic countdown

On my last trip I stayed at BP International in Tsim Sha Tsui area and I liked the location so I booked the same hotel again this time around. The hotel looked no different from when I last stayed in August 2006. Even the room look exactly the same! The rooms aren't big (hey this is HK afterall) but it's very clean and the furnishings are new. I've stayed in far bigger rooms in China and Taiwan where the furnishings are all worn out and the bathrooms stink.

After unloading our luggage, we went down to the corner noodle shop that the bus driver had recommended. The spicy "la mein" is supposedly really tasty.

spicy la mein

We spent a considerable amount of time in TST and Mongkok area. I had no problem navigating my way around the city on foot (it's my fourth visit to HK :D) Made the usual stops at the Esprit Outlet (bought some tees!), Sino Centre, Harbour City mall etc. I didn't buy as many clothes as I'd hope but I've got a new Agnès b. handbag! ^__^

Managed to catch up with Jennifer in Causeway Bay on Friday night (she had just arrived HK that night with her sis and cousin).. and my HK buddies - Angelina (it was really nice to see her again - we were hall mates in uni years ago - thanks for dinner and dessert =]), Christina and Pusanna (thank you so much for everything!!)

morning market at Mongkok

scallop shopping with mom

polo bun

my fave milk tea

yummy mango dessert

Final Down To Earth HK concert 回到地球表面演唱會香港最終場 31/5/2008

The Mayday Down To Earth world tour came to an end last Saturday night at HK's Asiaworld Expo. A rather short tour covering only 4 stops which kicked off in Singapore on April 26, then Shanghai on May 10, Taichung on May 17 and concluding in HK on May 31.

The concert was held at Asiaworld Expo which is located in Lantau Island near the HK International Airport. Yes it's pretty darn far from the city (I suspect the Coliseum must be closed for renovation) The fastest way to get there is taking the Airport Express train (25 mins ride from Central MTR station)

That Saturday I got to the Expo at 4PM cos Jennifer and I wanted to buy the concert merchandise. I almost passed out when I got there and saw the massive Q at the merchandise booth!! They started selling the merchandise at 3PM, 5 hours ahead of the show. I guess some people had started Q-ing up in the morning. I ended up Q-ing for over an hour.

tour merchandise and Stay Real items on sale

Q for merchandise at 5:17PM

They had brought ample stock for the merchandise (In Singapore the Stay Real tees were sold out almost immediately after they started selling them!) There were stacks and stacks of boxes behind the merchandise booth.

check out the stocks!

eh what's this? new cover for Ashin's Escape to Japan book

Q for Block C (Standing Zone)

entrance for Block A & B

The concert started at around 8:30PM and ended at 12 midnight!! They sang two sets of encore. Pin Guan aka Victor Wong was the guest artist and it was so funny how he kept calling Ashin "ah soon kor" LOL. At the start of the concert, flyers and yellow ribbons were distributed to everyone. The yellow ribbon was to be tied on your right wrist in remembrance of the Sichuan earthquake victims. The flyer was a note asking everyone to sing the chorus of 垃圾車 at the end of the encore. It was so amazing to hear everyone singing along in Taiwanese. The HK fans are so amazingly supportive - no wonder the band were so touched =] [and heck.. no wonder the concert tickets were so hard to get!!]

a big thank you to Pusanna for buying the concert tix

By the time the concert had ended it was past midnight and the organisers were kind enough to organise special trains to ferry the fans back to the city. The train services run only till midnight so they arranged for extra trains. Upon reaching the city I had to take a cab back as the MTR service was closed. It was about 1:30AM when I got back to the hotel.

What an awesome finale to a great tour.