We Love Asia Festival 2.0! !

You won't believe your eyes. Or ears..

On the 6th & 7th September, a dumbfounding full weekend party will be held @ Sepang International Circuit, one that Malaysia has never seen before! This time on the 2^nd We Love Asia festival international superstars as well as national & Southeast Asia heroes will be rockin' your world on 3 stages including "Space Ibiza", "Family And The Friends" AND that is not all, despite a full weekend of party and celebration, a huge fun park with the most exciting & amazing rides will be set up to provide a space where you can "rest" in between partying and raving.

Watch International music sensation Pitbull, together with 50 international & national top acts including DJ Antoine, Taboo (Black Eyed Peas), Jerome Isma-Ae, Inna, Mizz Nina & many more performing LIVE on stage, party with the coolest artists & DJs throughout your weekend.. All this will be made reality only at the 2^nd We Love Asia festival! !

*click to enlarge*

The heat is raising as Early Bird & PROMO passes already SOLD OUT and the remaining tickets are selling fast so what’re you waiting for?! >Get your WeLoveAsia 2.0 Passes HERE!!~< NOW before it’s too late & prepare yourself for an astounding once-in-a-lifetime party experience! ! ^^

Check out some of the awesome clips & tickets info below.. AND here's something special for the fans, type in the promotional code (weloveasia53382) while purchasing your tickets to get an extra 10% ticket price discount right away! b^^d 

We Love Asia 2.0 Trailer ^^

The Best of Pitbull MegaMix :)

Arthur's Day 2013 Launch Party~ ^^

What’s up guys it’s party time!^^ Remember the wonderful Arthur’s Day celebration last year @ Sunway Giza ft. awesome International & local celebrities Justin Lo侧田, Reshmonu & Jacklyn Victor? Check out the >GuinnessArthur's Day Celebration 2012< to refresh your memory & behold as the stunning party is back! V^^V

Thanks to John Paul from G2 Public Relations I was invited to the exclusive Arthur's Day Launch Party held @ KL Live, an enjoyable night with great hospitality where GUINNESS® fans & members of the media rockin’ across the room while the exciting artists line-up for this year’s Arthur’s Day celebration were revealed. 

Arthur's Day Launch Party @ KL Live Centre

Wonderful hospitality, nice food & cool band b^^d

Live band of the night: The Morning Glory~ No idea how they come up with the name but they play good music, great performance :)

what is a party without some favourite black brew right ^^

In conjunction with the 5^th annual global celebration ‘To Arthur’ this year, GUINNESS® MY has decided to take the celebration up a notch, pledging not only a Bigger, Better but certainly Bolder celebration exclusively for all GUINNESS® lovers. :)

CHEERS~ To Arthur! :)

This year, 3 international acts will rock the Arthur’s Day 2013 celebration on 27^th September which will be held at the Welcome Center, Sepang International Circuit to celebrate the founder of GUINNESS®, Arthur Guinness & his remarkable legacy of goodness through music. So ladies and gentlemen let's put our hands together for the hottest international music stars that will be taking the stage of Arthur’s Day celebration 2013! Five for Fighting, All American Rejects & The Wanted!!~~ *ClapClap*  

Five For Fighting- John Ondrasik.

All American Rejects- Chris Gaylor (Drummer), Tyson Ritter (Singer/Bassist), 
Nick Wheeler (Guitarist), Mike Kennerty (Guitarist).

The Wanted- Siva Kaneswaran, Tom Parker, Nathan Sykes, Max George, Jay McGuiness.

Greetings from the line-up stars ^^

With such bold line-up of international acts, the Arthur’s Day Party finale will be the greatest upcoming celebration not to be missed, so mark your calendar guys & visit www.arthursday.com.my now to find out how you can get your hands on some exclusive Arthur’s Day 2013 tickets! 

Also remember to stay logged on to Guinness Malaysia Facebook to be the 1st to know about the exciting activities coming up this Arthur’s Day as the nationwide celebration in Malaysia is at full swing~ Month long parties & promotions will be taking place starting from 29^th August 2013 at selected outlet nationwide in the lead up to the main Arthur’s Day concert party finale on 27^th September at the Welcome Center, Sepang International Circuit. So raise your toast & CHEERS~ To a man made of more, To Arthur! ^^  

Lovely unique door gift- Seed Incubator made from upcycled wood flooring, homegrown organic seeds. Thank U :)

ps: One of my all time favourite- Superman by Five For Fighting b^^d

Upcoming Events

Step up and play at Guinness arTHURSDAY parties nationwide!

Step up to the challenge and be bold enough to participate in the exciting activities at any of our arTHURSDAY parties happening nationwide, and you could be in the running to win a pair of Arthur’s Day 2013 tickets! Here’s the list of arTHURSDAY parties :)

19th September
The Beer Factory, Sunway Giza
Malones, Sooka Sentral

21st September
History Bistroz, Ipoh
Phat Barrels, Kuantan

26th September
Backyard, Sri Hartamas
Sids’s Pub, Bangsar South

Nuffnang Premiere Screening: Elysium movie review

After 4 years of quiescence, Neill Blomkamp the master mind & creator of District 9, an unique independent science fiction action/thriller film which is technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching is finally back. Bring in a brand new science fiction action film- Elysium.    

Story line: “In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet's crime and poverty, and they critically need the avant-garde medical care available only on Elysium - but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens' luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy who once a criminal & in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – breaking into Elysium, most heavily guarded place in the universe.. A mission that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces - but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.”

District 9 was a spectacular sci-fi movies of the past decade, it was a relatively low budget movie with unknown cast, however succeeded in delivering a captivating tale with style, it is indeed an unique & one of the kind science-fic movie at its best. So inevitably Elysium the Blomkamp science-fic sequel will bear an enormously high expectation which perhaps hard to fulfill. Well for those with such anticipation, Elysium with its ravishing special effects and fine performances will not fail to impress you ^^.

Putting aside the facts that this is a film with triple budget of District 9's & starring by a pair of Oscar winners Matt Damon and Jodie Foster which makes it simply bigger & better, what really impress me the most is the director’s brilliant proficiency in establishing shots, crafting out an imaginary future world which looks so real that for a second you would actually believe that this is how our future world will be like in the reality.   

Despite delivering a stunning visual package of a science-fic genre with shiny spaceships, advance weapons and explosions, brutal action scenes, the timely issues of poverty, overpopulation & inequality are nicely presented onscreen. The story telling part of little girl Matilda is pretty touching as well, a demonstration of pure love & caring which personally I think is beautiful ^^     

Though Elysium might be relatively less engaging and unique when come into comparison with District 9, still this is another sensational Blomkamp movie, a remarkable blockbuster science-fic film which definitely worth your time & money :)  

Thnx to NuffnangMY fr d tics :)

Rating: 8.4/10~ ^^

OpenRice MakanVenture @ Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, Publika

Just yesterday I was happily invited to my 2^nd OpenRice MakanVenture, the 1^st MakanVenture @ Plus One Shabu Shabu 1 Utama was a satisfying & enjoyable session, hence I had quite a lot of expectation on this wonderful food venture which was held at Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, a restaurant which located at the far corner of block A1 Publika (upper ground level 1 facing the main road, above paparich to the left), specialise in creative Hong Kong Dim Sum & Tea Pot Soup.

 

Imperial Pot, Lot A1-UG1-03, Solaris Dutamas, No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

We were served some of their specialities which most of them passes creativity wise, wonderful plating & presentation. However if you’re looking for some heavenly taste HK dimsum, this isn’t really what you would be impress as most of them fall under the ‘decent’ category. The dish taste quite ordinary for a fusion dimsum restaurant as there is a lack of chemistry in the HK based food combination, nothing much really standout.

Classy interior & setting of Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, Publika.

So here’s what we had..Menu of the night.

Quite disappointed as my highly anticipated Charcoal Grilled Skin Prawn Dumpling/灰姑娘虾饺皇 turn out to be unavailable =.=ll

Signature Tea Pot Soup/茶汤: Black Chicken, Ginseng Chicken, Yok Chok Chicken & Nutritious Herbal Pork, not outstanding in taste but the sense of herbs are strong & definitely good for health. (RM12.80/pot)

Nutritious Herbal Pork Tea Pot Soup

Ginseng Chcken Tea Pot Soup

Unagi Puff in BBQ Sauce/烧汁鳗鱼酥. Nice puff texture which is soft and creamy, a nearly melt-in-your-mouth sensation. This would be my recommendation dish. (RM 12.80/serving, 2 pcs)

Steamed Bah Kut Teh Soup Dumpling/Xiao Long Bau/肉骨茶小笼包. Nice filling of juicy meat in bak kut teh soup, the dumpling skin is slightly dry though. (RM 8.80/3 pcs)

Egg Custard Bun in Charcoal Grilled Skin/竹碳流沙包. Barely passes as the suppose-to-be liquid egg custard turn out to be scare & solid. (RM 6.80/3pcs) 

Deep Fried Avocado Roll with Crispy Silk Wrap/龙须牛油果. Quite crispy from the outside however the avocado filling are synthetically sweet, a very similar taste to a homemade pandan kaya. (RM 8.80/2pcs)

Enoki Mushroom Wrapped in Bacon/金包银. Nice aromatic dish upon serves. Surprisingly the chewy enoki mushrooms goes well with the smoked bacon as it balance up the bacon’s salty taste. (RM 7.80/3pcs)

Fresh Prawns in Organic Red Rice Roll/鲜虾红米肠. Pretty decent rice roll, however the deep fried crunchy texture & juicy fresh prawns makes it a worth trying dish. (RM 8.80/pcs)  

Despite the pale & ordinary food review, here’s something pretty interesting to spice things up :P.. Remember the phrase 'good things never last', well this is exactly the perfect phrase to describe my experience on the 2^nd OpenRice MakanVenture, don’t get me wrong as the folks from OpenRice & openricers attended the session are nice & lovely, we had a great time hanging out..  Disastrously the services of the restaurant & if not the attitude of the owner himself is a bummer. They has succeeded in taking food tasting to a ‘whole new level’ as among all those food tasting events that I had attended this is definitely THE MOST STINGY restaurant offering food review session! Now scroll back up to those lovely photos above, can you imagine that there were actually 4 of us who were ask to share all those ridiculously tiny portion of food?! (4 ppl with 3 xiao long bau, guess 1 of us would have to do a food review by eyes huh *jaw drops*) Still I’m thankful as they do provide scissors so we get to cut the Unagi Puff & Avocado Roll into pieces & everybody gets a bite.. Though I'm not the type of person who like to stuff myself with food while doing a food review, but since I would need to comment on those dimsum being serves I guess it isn't too much to have at least one piece of each for tasting right? -.-

Anyway still I thank OpenRice for the lovely gift & invitation, salute to the professionalism of you guys hosting the event with an empty stomach (Yes, EMPTY! seems that the restaurant forgot to serves their portion of dimsum *jaw drops again* =.=ll)

^^

Ok enough jaw drops, to be fair & putting aside the fact that the restaurant did not make it to my personal dimsum list due to it's low C/P index (Content/Price) & unpleasant dinning experience, still Imperial Pot is an option to be take into consideration if you happen to be in Publika & craving badly for some decent HK dimsum, perhaps you might get a wonderful dining experience when you’re actually paying for what you order. ^^ 

Rating: 5.9/10

Nuffnang Premiere Screening: The Purge movie review

The year is 2022 & United States of America stand out as a reborn nation.. With only 1 % unemployment, crime is at all-time LOW & life has never been better.. BECAUSE one night a year, for a 12 hours period during The Purge night, ALL CRIME IS LEGAL..

From the producer of Paranormal Activity & Sinister Jason Blum, directed by James DeMonaco, The Purge definitely sounds awesome & looks good trailer wise..  

Plot: “It’s the year 2022 and America has rebounded from a devastating financial catastrophe & is at an almost perfect domestic peace. Unemployment is at an all-time low 1 % and crime is virtually doesn’t exist.. Except on one day of the year.. which the New Founders have established so that everyone can vent their latent hatred and bigotry without consequence … except on select government officials. The rest of America can “purify their souls” through 12 hours of mayhem, murder, and anarchy known as The Purge.  It is a big business which brings great fortune for James Sandin and his family, but this year, the purge hits very close to home.. Literary.. As they will be tested to see how far they will go to protect themselves & their family when the vicious outside world breaks into their home.”

Classified under horror/thriller genre The Purge definitely sounds cool premise wise, leaving quite a lot of expectation on the story & characters.. Unfortunately the movie just doesn't quite live up to expectations, the acting is pale, the story is surprisingly predictable & even the sound effect sounds monotonous..

Still there’re some nicely execute scares & thrills sequences, few of the close-up gun shoot scene are nicely executed, perhaps the film will be even better if our ‘beloved’ Film Censorship Board of Malaysia manage to keep their brutal cuts away =.=lll..

To conclude, The Purge is a rookie horror film of ridiculous morally distorted nation which claim to be perfect & existing only in the imagination.. Still it get a passing grade, but barely due to it's slight sense of horror.

Thanx to NuffnangMY fr the tics :)

Rating: 5.7/10

Nuffnang Premiere Screening：《激战》/ Unbeatable movie review

很少写中文片的影评，印象中记得近来写过的就只有《寒战》与《天机：富春山居图》，会记得《寒战》是因为这是一部近年来不错的港产警匪片，而会记得《天机..》则因为..唔..大家还是自己点链接看影评把.. :P

那么今天为大家介绍的是一部非主流的港片，为林超贤导演之最新力作，由张家辉 、彭于晏、梅婷 、  李馨巧 、 安志杰主演 ..掌声欢迎~——《激战》。

有别于主流的警匪动作港片，这是一部汇集了两岸三地名演员，以拳击为题的剧情动作励志电影。坦白说一开始对电影的期待并不高，毕竟林导上一部以战为名的电影《逆战》虽然一样打着巨星旗号，找来了谢霆锋与周董担纲演出，可表现只属一般。此次《激战》大胆出击以非主流路线的拳击为题材，实在让人担心，毕竟以拳击为故事的港片近十年来几乎没有成功的..Anyway之所以会走入电影院完全是冲着张家辉三个字，可看完以后，心里却是满满的满足感且感触良多，庆幸自己做了个正确的选择..成熟的剧情与剪辑，到位的配乐，平实不喧哗的开场，实打实的肉搏，动人的文戏，构成了一部值得一看的好电影 :)

故事：“过气香港拳王程辉（张家辉 饰），在拳坛没落后，成为赌债累累的落魄中年，富二代思齐（彭于晏 饰），因父亲生意失败而一无所有。两个风光一时的失意人，一个为了避债，一个为寻父，在澳门相遇成为拳击师徒。辉为了挽回人生尊严；齐为了鼓励生意失败的父亲别放弃，师徒二人踏上MMA的擂台，无惧地挑战强大对手。”

《激战》是一部触动人心，血泪交织的，有灵魂的电影。要剧情有剧情，要感情有感情，还加码附送了高质量的肉搏、帅哥肌肉body（本人对男性酮体真没兴趣，这句纯粹为女性观众们而写）与适时的调笑吐槽，真心推荐啊 XD..

They Kiss！没错，这两个男的，有吻戏！基情伤不起啊~ XD

对不起又走偏了，不过话说回来，虽然没有好莱坞大片精确的计算激大手笔的爆破与科技，但个人认为在这年头简单、单纯、真挚才是珍贵的品质，在这纷纷扰扰且浮躁的社会，或许就需要这样一个简单、单纯且热血的故事来让人们重新的发现那渐渐被遗忘了的感动、情感和价值观。

《激战》，2013年8月15号擊动人心，深情推介 ^^

Ps：顺道一提，影片主要配乐为The Sound Of Silence《寂静之声》，一首曲风飘缓迷蒙的欧美经典歌曲，恰到好处的反差感为剧情加分不少 b^^d

Thanx to NuffnangMY fr d premiere tics :)

Rating：8/10~ ^^

'Meet & Greet' with Amina (Masterchef Australia Contestant) @ Blu Med MIdvalley

I bet most of us will come across with television cooking show from time to time, some are pretty challenging while some are quite homely..  Have you ever wonder whether those awesome looking chef really have such good cooking skill or did those dishes that prepared on television are merely for display only? Well that’s one thing that I always wanted to know, which brings me to the following Nuffanng tastebuddies event--- 'Meet & Greet' session with Masterchef Australia contestant- Amina ‏:P

Being held at Blu Med Ristoranre e Bar, the meet & greet session was one of my highly-anticipated event as I finally had a chance to try out some dishes of this opulent setting restaurant which located right at the middle of Gardens and Mid Valley Megamall.. AND that’s not all, besides a simply meet & greet, we get to try out a specially prepared dessert by Amina! Awesome right :)

Blu Med @ The Boulevard MidValley City

So how was the event, is it great? Well yes & no.. A big Yes for the meet & greet session with Amina El Shafei & a regretfully no for Blu Med.. :9    

Watching this talented & surprisingly young (age is a woman's secret, so I won’t tell you that she is only 29..Opss :P) Masterchef Australia Contestant preparing dessert live is definitely an enjoyable experience. The passion this smart, funny & lovely lady for food, freedom & great life is definitely what I like the most, we somehow shared similar philosophy of life XD * hi-five*

Live dessert making session via Masterchef Australia Contestant Amina El Shafei :)

Walah~ done ^^ 

Steamed Pandan Cakes with Lychee

As for Blu Med, the genuine concept of Mediterranean + Italian fusion is impressive, same goes to its interior/design which is warm, simply & yet elegant. However claiming to be the new baby of renowned IronChef Yasuhiro Sasajima & have all their dishes executed by expert Italian and international chefs, the food just doesn’t really live up to my expectation.

Blu Med- warm & elegant 

Blu Med- interior

Since it is a Mediterranean & Italian fusion, I suppose freshness, unique/colourful plating and of course mouthwatering poultry, seafood, beans, pastas & Olive oil are to be expected. Well for Blu Med plating wise they did a good job & they do score well for the criteria of uniqueness as some of the dishes are quite special, but taste wise, a total disappointment with nothing to shout about for :’( perhaps the buffet style presentation for food tends to compromise some of their taste & quality?

erm.. at least the colour looks nice, I like blue :P

Roasted Baby Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary

Linguine with Squid, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Cutlet Dory with Ligurian Sauce

Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa

my own platting XD

Anyway, overall the event was great, thanks to Lifetime (Astro channel 709) for bringing in Amina & thanks to Nuffanng tastebuddies for the invitation, cheers~ b^^d