He’s indeed one of the most recognisable superstar in the world, in history. There’s The Beatles, Elvis, Marilyn.. and now, Michael.

Ask anyone on the street, who doesn’t know any of the legend? But almost definitely, anyone would recognize Michael; he has created his own style in music, fashion and lifestyle. He’s an enigma, he’s the force to be reckon with.

He was the most impersonated living legend ever, with the one-hand glove, with the hat and of course, the moonwalking.

He still holds the most record sold record and it’s going to be quite a long long long while before anyone can ever top that.

He’s Michael, he’s MJ…he’s Ben.

Gone Too Soon indeed…

Her UK and US tour dates has been announced at A Camp site.

Additional dates are as following:
May 27 - Cambridge, Mass. - Middle East
May 30 - Philadelphia, PA. - Johnny Brenda
Jun 3 - Double Door - Chicago, Il
Jun 5 - Record Bar - Kansas City , MO
Jun 6 - Bluebird Theater - Denver , CO

It will be highly unlikely that they A Camp will come to this part of the globe, except perhaps for a special appearance in Japan.

Watched Muallaf at The Picturehouse Cathay yesterday. I can’t say for sure that this is the best work from Yasmin (I still cling on to the wonderfully simple Sepet) but definitely a worthy one made. There are many characters, and each of them either evoke past memories or post new perspective of life, be it from a religion or family point of view.

The film brings upon opposite questions and views. You see the ‘approved’ and ‘unapproved’ home-runaways meet, how they find each other weird and/or interesting. One find it difficult to understand why the other inflict pain on himself and his mom, the other find it intriguing how someone can keep forgiving everyone every single night. And there’s the Datuk father who can’t keep himself off the ‘evils’ of Islam and his children who can’t have enough of sociology of religion, there’s the stuck-in-between-and-don’t-know-what-to-do stepmom and always-awaiting mom.

Ultimately, Yasmin believed that this film is not on religion, but on family ties, how relationship are affected and the consequences of action. We see how the two main characters deal with their situations.

If you haven’t heard of Camiguin Island, that’s okay… It’s not a popular tourist destination… yet, and that’s why I’d chosen to go there for my holiday.

Camiguin Island is a true blue paradise island in every sense. Blue sky with plenty of sun, clear ocean water, good beach… what more can you ask for? With its strategic location, the island s pretty much proteched from typhoons that other places in the Philippines might suffer. And as any paradise in this real world, there are threats that come with it: This pear-shaped island is within the Mindanao region, which is where Abu Sayyaf guerrillas operate, but the island does not pose any of that threat… With seven volcanoes on the island, Camiguin Island is the most concentrated place in the world with volcanoes in term of ratio to the land area. The last eruption was in 1951, where a cemetery sunk, and the site was eventually marked with a large cross.

With the volcanoes, Camiguin Island landscape is pretty unique; the island looks like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park! Mount Hibok-Hibok on the island is still an active volcano and a hike up to the mountain would be an amazing experience, which I would do when I next visit Camiguin Island again!

Camiguin Island offers pretty interesting young dive sites, such as the Old Volcano and the White Island dive site, as well as the Sunken Cemetery dive site. The Old Volcano offers lava landscapes, with corals fast populating the area. The White Island is a white sand bar, which appears when it is low tide. Though the Sunken Cemetery dive site may sound creepy, but you won’t be seeing much of graves or anything like that as the cemetery was pretty much destroyed and everything is buried and corals are fast covering the site.

As the White Island is one of the must-visit place of Camiguin Island, I suspected that dredging works have been carried out to ensure that the White Island remains even when it’s high tide.

Diving at the White Island may have some current, and it was mildly strong when I was there. But nevertheless, it was a pretty good dive site and the stopover at the White Island is worthy of great photography moments. You can sun tan on the White Island as well, but do take note that the sun is pretty strong and there isn’t much shelter on the sand bar.

I’ll be posting more photos, especially on the Lazones festival and Cebu Island, so watch out for next parts…

I’ll be going to this pretty not-so-well-known-with-international-tourist place called Camiguin next weekend.
Why? I’ll let these photos say it all:

If that’s not paradise, I don’t know what it is. I’m just hoping that there won’t be typhoon, or pirate attacks, or earthquakes, or heavy rain, or political violence, etc. (Why all the paradise on earth are prone to all kinds of problem?!)

Finally… Last weekend I went to Pulau Tioman for my open water portion of my diving course and I’m now a certified open water diver

Pulau Toman is a pretty nice place to dive- low, or rather no current in the water, there are marine lives from turtles to lots of beautiful fishes, and the water is clear. I would want to go there again, since my diving sessions were pretty much to carry out the skill sets. Though exploration was limited, I manage to see a cuttlefish, stingray and lots and lots of sea urchins and sea cucumbers and fishes…

And it was a great activity to meet people and share stories. Next weekend, I’m going off to the Philippines for my leisure dive, and perhaps for my advanced level.

As The Cardigans are on their second studio recording break, Nina would be releasing her second solo project after A Camp.

Targetted early 2009, the album is produced by Nina and her husband, Nathan Larson, featuring ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Joan As Policewoman and Guided By Voices drummer Kevin March.

Can’t wait… can’t wait…

One of the most anticipated summer-released blockbuster this year, I could really say that Black Knight could not disappoint, simply because:
1) It’s by Christopher Nolan, one director whom I have good regards.
2) Christian Bale is perhaps the best Batman so far.
3) Heather Ledger redesigned the Joker.

After watching the film just now, I realized how much the film has to offer besides those initial expectations. Just like the first installation, Dark Knight approach is to make give a humane face to the characters. Yes, they are still larger than life, but you get to see their believes, which the rest of the Batman films never really got that across to the audience as impactful as this one; the character Batman relies on his history; the Joker decided to whip all history off and created his own memories; Two-Face history and the reason why he is so, is revealed before us; Rachel Dawes etches herself in our memory.

The storyline is not paper thin, like how most summer flicks would expectedly be. Character developments are reflected, unfolded and influenced by events that happened or influenced by the characters themselves. Sometimes, it’s subtle (Alfred Pennyworth’s decision to burn Rachel’s letter to Bruce), sometimes it’s apparently in-your-face (Joker’s mad social experiment and other evil deeds) and sometimes, it’s choice, or the lack of it (Harvey ‘Two-Face’ decision to leave things to chance).

Dark, complex and disturbing, which is why I would need to catch it again; I missed the opening bits of the film and the whole experience is just not complete, like attending a Chinese wedding dinner late and missed the Cold Dish and Sharkfin Soup and had to give the dessert a miss as you need to leave early, and you still need to pay the ‘full price’ ang pao… if you get what I mean.

Go catch it at some big good cinema and that’s all the summer blockbuster you need to watch this year.

We are living in a world of strangers. We don’t know who our neighbours are anymore. We are connected by the Net, by IM, we chat and read blogs of people from all across the world. We know each other, but yet we don’t know each other. We are lovers, but yet strangers.

It’s baffling, the whole we live in… but sometimes, all it takes, is just a silly dance, to connect us all, to make us somewhat understand each other, even if it’s just for awhile.

gary 曹格 ‘’Welcome to my World'’ asia live tour 2008 singapore…

Whoo hooo!!! I’ll be going for the concert afterall. Even though I had initially wanted to attend the concert in Malaysia, but decided not to considering the hassle to travel to KL, booking hotel room, etc.

And then surprise! surprise! my friend had just won two tickets to watch 曹格’s concert in Singapore, which mean, I got to watch for free! Syiokkkkkk sia!!! Can’t wait, can’t wait…. LOL

The Malaysian leg has Justin as guest star right? I hope he’ll be the guest star in Singapore as well… But what’s the likelihood of that?

Sistic Singapore

Have you heard of V-diet?

It’s a diet program developed by the t-nation folks with mainly these goals in mind:

1) Lose weight fast
2) Lose fat, and not muscle, and lastly,
3) No pain, no gain

I added the last point, because that is what I’ve concluded after reading on how this diet works. Here’s the gist: Keep an accurate track of food intake by the nutrient, and exercise. Simple? Well, here’s the catch: The diet would consist of protein shakes, fish oils, fibre supplements and vitamins for 28 days (1 month). For every 7 days, there is an allowance of 1 meal consisting of healthy solid food. With the food intake, the diet also consists of 3 workout days evenly spread out over a week.

Crazy huh? Well, the diet is designed such so that food intake is controlled. Calorie count by itself is not enough. In order to build and maintain muscle, the protein intake has to be sufficient. In order to burn fat, the carbs intake has to be minimised. In order for the body to function, the body needs to have enough good fats for nutrients and minerals & vitamins to work. What way would be better than to use protein shakes and other supplements to control intake? I would say that V-diet is the liquid version of Atkins diet, except that V-diet is more structured and includes strength training.

I’ve read through some online articles about this diet and after some thoughts, decided to give this diet a try.

Again, it’s not an easy diet, that’s for sure, but I reckon if I have the discipline to keep to the regimen, I damn well deserve a better looking body.

Is it a flawed diet? Well, all diets are flawed one way or another. Some diet works, some diet don’t. But I suppose if you never try, you’ll never know.

I’ll keep a diet log, and hopefully diligently report on the status and progress. I shall psych my mind and body now, “It’s gonna be just 28 days~~It’s gonna be just 28 days~~~”

Last weekend- Saturday 14th June to be exact- I crossed the Causeway to JB for a weekend getaway. My main purpose was to get some banking stuff done, though at the end of the day, that was not exactly settled…

Anyway, I went shopping at City Square as well. I’ve always looked forward for a trip to the SEED store, especially when there is a 50% discount on office shirts. However, this time round, I bought a shirt which was on 10% discount, and I just couldn’t resist getting the above-knees berms, which was at 20% discount. I like both of them alot, so in my opinion, it was a real bargain…

I also went to FOS. I’ve always considered FOS as the best thing that ever happened to Malaysia shopping scene- quality clothes at discounted price. I bought 4 tees, which cost me about RM50 in total… It was quite a bargain, considering two of the tees are of Pull & Bears brand, which would be sold in Singapore for at least SGD30 each…

I got a phonecall at work just about an hour ago.

The stranger asked me if I’ve lost my wallet.

And it stroke me that perhaps I did. I began searching the drawer but could not find it. I lost my wallet without knowing it…

The man told me where I could find him. I quickly got out of my workplace and within a few minutes I was face-to-face with the chap who was holding on to my wallet.

He told me some other guy had picked it up and left it at the shop.

I am grateful, and am counting my blessings.

My lost wallet was handled by two different person; either one of them could have just remained silent. My wallet was fully intact, with money and identification card and other cards including credit cards as well. This is perhaps something that I like about Singapore. This was not the first time I lost my wallet. I lost a card holder, containing all kinds of cards including travel concession card, university card, and so forth at a cinema. I did not realized it until I was returning home and realized that my card holder was missing. A few days later, I eventually got it back when the university contacted me and told me someone had found it and brought it to the university administration office.

I shall remind myself to be more careful with my wallet, always.

:(

http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/news/0804101830.html

I shall need to find another not-found-in-Singapore brand to fall in love with.

IF you would think that this is an interesting idea, take a look at this:

It’s a 3D browser…. I wonder, do we need that?
Click here.

Pangea Day starts at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008.

It’s dreadful whenever I see “The Best of” albums, as the songs featured are simply a compilation of previous popular releases and being a fan, there is a certain restrain.

Unlike other “The Best of” albums, the Cardigans however on the other hand decided to release a 2-cd of some of the most memorable hits, and B-sides and hard-to-come-by versions are included as well.

This album maps out the Swedish band’s musical journey from being an sugary indie to moody pop to quiet band rock. That being the general idea, the kind of sounds the Cardigans has injected are simplistic, beautifully raw at times. And Nina’s voice is sultry in a way whenever she whispers, whenever she talks in songs, whenever she gives a little breathing.

It’s a truly must-have collection for fans and the curious of what the Cardigans sounds like besides Lovefool. Gran Turismo fan would have been better exposed, but there are more offers than just that; Carnival (Puck version) is the mellow child, Burning Down the House sticks out with attention; Laika is the original Junk of The Hearts.

Meanwhile, they are on a four-year album recording break and would most likely release their next studio album in 2009. Meanwhile, “The Best of” is what’s keeping their fans avid. Next compilation, I sure hope to see one with their solo works when they had their previous band break in 2000.
Music:The Cardigans - Emmerdale

It’s a great song, it’s a great MV, but it reminds me Namie’s:

If you have been following the latest survivor series, you’d see how the original alliance was still very strong- Fans vs. Favourites. Even after the jumble, the pack remained loyal, at least for the losing team, where the Fans members were being voted out one by one. The Fans underestimated that alliance, when two of them decided to vote with the Favourites, until the final stage, when only one- Erik- left.

HOWEVER, Erik managed to pull the right string, when he told Ozzy- the obvious strong member of the Favourites team- that he’d once a target of being eliminated. Ego Ozzy took the opportunity at the tribal council and managed to turn the table around, and Ami (of Favourites) was voted out. Shocking, but a relief to Erik.

But I would think that Erik is not out of the red yet. But then again, with the merger in the next episode, it was a certainly a good news to Erik that he was spared the vote, as he would be back with the support of the Fans, unless of course, the Fans had gone their separate ways…

By far, real far… this is the most stunning American Idol song so far this season. And I thought the other David’s Imagine- with is equally iconic a song- was amazing enough…

I’m ready to be surprised again

The first thing that comes to my mind was: How Apple-ized! And the simple design: How Google-d! And someone else agrees with me. The visual interface would most likely appeal to some, but I’m not sure how efficient the search mechanism itself.

It’s on Beta mode currently, and just like when Gmail and Wordpress (if I remember correctly) first started, you’ll have to submit your email address and wait for the invite.

www.SearchMe.com

On the very facade, PTA offered something very different this time round. He threw away the whole cast assemble, he climbed out of the Valley and instead of the whole plain, he’s focusing on one particular cactus- Daniel Plainview.

Loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!”, the brilliantly titled film gave audience somewhat different cinematic experience. The strong soundtrack gave a pendulum momentum to the images which would be too dull on their own, though not compelling enough for me to look forward to what would happen next. This is pretty much PTA, which I appreciate as I allow the film to take me on the ride. This is also done in another way; PTA introduces new plot as we go along- the long-lost brother, the killing of the preacher, and so on.

PTA has always cast a single powerhouse in his films- Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Cruise & Adam Sandler- and this time round, Daniel Day-Lewis is a good choice to tie up the film properly, whom without the film would just fall apart, especially so that Blood revolves around this particular character. This character is made so compelling that he pretty much is all PTA needed (that’s the reason to throw the usual casts away?).

PTA has this incredible ability of changing the direction of his films without changing the tempo for you would think it’s befitting. In Magnolia, he made the whole cast broke into a sing-a-long (from drama to musical), in Punch Drunk-Love, he created a character capable of both psychopatic action of threatening tugs and whacking things, and lovingly devoted to loving. In Blood, he changed the whole mood to a pretty comical one when Daniel was to be baptised. Genius.

As much as I love what PTA does, I must admit that I didn’t quite like Blood as much as I wanted. I’m not sure why, because after thinking through, the film actually grows in me. Perhaps it takes a second viewing for me to appreciate PTA’s effort better. Perhaps I really should have just watched it without expectation- which i thought I didn’t impose. In any case, I do believe that Blood deserves its Oscar nomination, but not the win; having watched No Country for Old Men, I thought that was a more brilliant film to win.

I certainly look forward to more works from PTA. Blood is ok, and I require more time for this piece to grow in me.

Merry Christmas to all. Hope you all had a great time this Christmas.

I received the biggest Christmas gift to date, and it’s time to give back.
I decided to get K this:

…together with some other stuff including accessories to and a new handphone.

;)

It’s the the time of giving, well, in my case, it’s receiving…
And this is what I get:

A new laptop!!! HP Pavilion DV9202TX to be exact. It’s a 17″ desktop replacement laptop and I really like it alot.
My previous 15.4″ ACER laptop has gone kaput and I’ve been using my company’s laptop for the past few months, until this friend of mine decided to get me a new laptop for Christmas! Woohooo….!
It’s enormous on my desk… I didn’t really realize it when I saw it at the Simex 2007 fair. Oh well…

How’s the initial feel? It’s good! Though I had some hiccup at first due to the upgrade of RAM from 2G to 4G, that problem was solved by flashing the BIOS. I really like the big screen. Though the weight may seem a bit intimidating, but I suppose that’s ok…
The amazing specs truly put this piece above the rest of the current popular laptops. And I really like some of new functions which have been incorporated. The interfaces are good, both in placement and the number of them. The one thing missing is the thunbprint recognition function, but I’m alright with that since I don’t believe in using that anyway…

All in all, I think I have a great powerful machine. Do google out its specs and you’ll know what I mean… LOL

It costs about SGD2,300, but I offer to chip in SGD1,000 since it’s pretty expensive. Thanks K!

Over the weekend, in fact, it was a Friday night when I decided to get myself this:

Hidden…

Finally, for the first time, I’m getting what I’ve always been hearing about- bonus!

For a few days now, I’ve been hearing my colleagues talking about bonus. The last meeting with the Managing Director had some kind of hints on that, where he mentioned that it would be ‘good this year’. I wasn’t at that meeting, for I was at some other project meeting that day.

Anyway, I received a letter from one of my company’s director today- my MD was on course in Gold Coast- and printed on it was my bonus…. Heheh
I was quite overwhelmed by the amount I was getting, considering that I’m still green as to what I’m expected to deliver, and I’ve been hitting on walls lately. Nevertheless, I’m grateful, and I would want to work hard to not disappoint my bosses…

But right now, I’m in euphoria state. I just can’t wait to spend spend spend right now. Maybe I shall get a new d-SLR to bring on my Auzzie trip. Hmmm….

Have been pretty busy and tired, so have not been blogging as often as I would want to. But I just have to blog this down.

This afternoon, I went to one of my clients’ main office for a lunch barbecue after a morning meeting. It was a great lunch with excellent food. And the highlight is Wagyu beef.

Wagyu what you say? Well, Wagyu is the breed of cattle that gives us the famous Kobe beef. I’m not sure the piece that I had was from Kobe, so technically, I can’t call the one I had Kobe beef.

And yes, it is pretty expensive meat; the one I had was a whopping SGD140 per kg!
Looking at this, and considering the piece I had was at least twice the size, it would mean that it would have cost me at least SGD70 if I had it in some restaurant, and if it’s a ‘fancy’ one, it could easily be SGD100! LOL

Anyway, was it any good? It wasn’t good, but excellent. Truly, it’s a gourmet meat, truly tender and juicy, and nothing like any beef that I ever had. I can even still remember the taste in my mouth… Yummy~~

Would I want to try it again? Perhaps, if I spot a good deal at some restaurant. Else, it’s just too expensive for me. LOL

A few weeks back, I went to this steamboat place Marina for dinner.
At the price of less than SGD15 per pax, the place is pretty well-known among Singaporeans. It’s a great place to hold large gathering among friends, especially for youngsters. It’s al fresco ‘dining’ so be prepared to sweat it out. They serve a whole range of food, but the popular stuff is the seafood, ranging from crab to seashells. Cooked food is served as well.

The food isn’t all that fantastic as they are not that fresh. Chances are, the seafood are of low grades, or ‘defects’ from restaurants. At such cheap all-you-can-eat price, the customers ain’t complaining so much. In fact, you might see how some customers ‘wrestle’ their way through the chilli crab and other cooked/ uncooked seafood once the waiter brings them out of the kitchen. Yup, Singaporeans are kiasu that way…

Having stayed in Singapore for so long, that was the first time I’ve visited the place. I wasn’t all that keen, but knowing that the place will be gone by the end of the year, making way for the Gardens, I decided that I should pay the Singapore social icon a visit. LOL.

There’s only one bus serving this area, so be prepared for crowded bus trip to and fro the place. Due to its rustic charm, it’s a nice place nevertheless, but some people might not want to go again once experienced.

Food: 2/10, Price 9/10, Ambience 7/10, Overall 6/10

This is a long overdued post. About 2 months ago, I lost my phone, W810i. And thus I need to get a new one before I left for the Fraser’s Hill trip. Since I was thinking of getting a digital camera then, I decided to go for a phone that can double as that, and K800i came to mind.

The main thing is that it boast a 3.2MP camera. Cool.
The photos are generally good, as proven through those Fraser’s Hill photos.

I don’t quite like the feature to protect the lens though… don’t quite like the idea of sliding part as it will get loose after long usage.

The interface is pretty nice, Sony Ericsson-style. Since my first SE phone, which is K750i, the interface has been enhanced considerably well.

Overall, a good phone, a good buy…