Sunday, August 31, 2008

HAPPY 51ST BIRTHDAY MALAYA!

Malaya was formed on 31st August 1957
Malaysia was formed on 16th September 1963


Saturday, August 30, 2008

FOOTBALL: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2008/2009 DRAW

Yes, I know it has been out for some time but I was loaded with work for the past two days. Damn, do you guys see the group stages list? When I saw it, I had to blink my eyes a few times to clarify whether my eyesight is failing me. There are so many new unknown football clubs that I had never heard of. I thought I am watching a list of UEFA Cup competition clubs. I highlight below in bold clubs I have never seen before in my entire football supporting life thus far. Correct me please if I am still dreaming or seeing things from too much work. I'm not even sure if I spell them correctly. Some of them are almost impossible to pronounce!

Group A - Bordeaux, CFR Cluj-Napoca, Chelsea, Roma
Group B - Anorthosis Famagusta, Inter Milan, Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen
Group C - Barcelona, FC Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon
Group D - Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven
Group E - AaB, Celtic, Man Utd, Villarreal
Group F - Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Lyon, Steaua Bucuresti
Group G - Arsenal, Dynamo Kiev, FC Porto, Fenerbahce
Group H - BATE Borisov, Juventus, Real Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg

Well, I guess it is probably good for the competition. This is to give more clubs from all European countries more chances to play in the big stage. Well, in paper, Barcelona and Arsenal should have the most easiest group stages ever. Group A and Group H are probably the most competitive groups on paper.

Anyway, Zenit St Petersburg is like the team on the rise lately. They just won the Uefa Super Cup against Manchester United with a 2-1 scoreline. One controversy in the match is the Paul Scholes' Hand of God goal attempt to equalize. Well, it is hard to repeat what Maradona did with more technogically advance cameras nowadays. His team mates came to congratulate him after scoring the Hand of God goal but the referee gave him a second yellow for cheating. Juventus and Real Madrid have to be careful.

Finally, can we get the Robinho transfer done and buried? I am sick and tired of the long process dragging the whole team down. I want it to be gotten over with ASAP! SELL HIM ALREADY!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

FOOTBALL: WHY SHEVA DID NOT PERFORM AT CHELSEA?

Mourinho: I Never Wanted Sheva
Goal.com
27 August 2008

Shevchenko arrived at Chelsea from Milan in the summer of 2006 for a whopping €45m, and he was expected to set the Premiership alight after coming with a reputation as one of the world’s best strikers.

However, the former Dynamo Kiev hero proved to be one of the most expensive and disastrous flops in the history of the English game as he managed just nine league goals in two seasons.

Inter coach Mourinho, who was manager at Chelsea when Shevchenko arrived, has attempted to explain why he failed to live up to expectations.

"He was like a prince in Milan and at Chelsea our philosophy was different, we had no princes,” ‘The Special One’ told Ford's Feelfootball.com.

“Everybody needs to work like everybody else and everybody needs to prove he deserves to play.

"I think maybe he lost some self-confidence. Step by step a player goes in the wrong direction."

Mourinho also confirmed suspicions that he never wanted to sign Shevchenko, with the Ukrainian being the baby of Chelsea billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

"He was not my first option but the club gave him to me as a second option," said the Portuguese, who left Chelsea by mutual consent in September 2007.

"I believe in the future he will again be a player of high quality. The truth is I never had a single personal problem with him and I wish him well for the future."

Shevchenko ended his nightmare at Chelsea at the weekend when he secured a return to former club Milan.

Anthony Sormani

ANDY LAU WONDERFUL WORLD TOUR 2008

OK, I have to admit here that I am a fan of Andy Lau since primary school days. I guess he sings less these days and most of the new songs suck. I had always complained to Lee Ling that this guy is so busy with movies he doesn't want to perform any concerts lately. Yes, I don't remember him coming to Singapore since I studied here. She said making money through movies is less hectic and tiring than organising concert tours. Well, maybe she's got a point. They said he returned after five years so that is quite a long time since.

Well, 12 Dec 2008 he is coming to Singapore for the concert. I just read it in the news today and I am surprised! His concert tickets are bloody expensive, starting at a higher price than any other singers standard pricing at S$118, then S$158, S$178 and all the way up to S$198! Is he going to Malaysia? Paying in Ringgit could be a lot cheaper! Should I invest on the higher ticket prices? I was worried that I could not attend the concert since I know I will flying home around that period of time. After checking the booking, I am relieved that I am supposed to fly back on the 13th December 2008 afternoon for my own wedding.

I will definitely try my best to go, even if it means I have to go alone!

Andy Lau Wonderful World Tour 2008 SINGAPORE

Andy Lau Wonderful World Begins Here


LANGUAGE
Cantonese & Mandarin

SYNOPSIS
Andy Lau is back! The No. 1 idol in the Chinese entertainment scene, Andy Lau, returns after five years to the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 12 December 2008 with his “Andy Lau Wonderful World Concert Tour”.

The tour kicked off in September last year and has to date successfully conquered 16 cities, selling out every venue and lauded by many for its brilliant staging, lighting and special effects.

Come and be entertained by Andy Lau as he belts out his chart-topping hits such as “一起走过的日子” (The Days We Spent Together), “忘情水” (Forget Love Potion), “中國人” (Chinese People), “笨小孩” (Stupid Child), “愛你一萬年” (Love You For 10,000 Years), “你是我的女人” (You Are My Woman), “男人哭吧不是罪” (It’s Not A Sin For Men To Cry), “Everyone is No. 1” and many more in this highly anticipated concert that you definitely do not want to miss.

The event is brought to you by UnUsUaL Entertainment.

刘德华回来了!

阔别了 5 年,让歌迷期待已久,华人世界永远的第一偶像 刘德华 将在12月 12日回到新加坡室内体育馆开唱。

“刘德华 Wonderful World 世界巡回演唱会” 从去年 9 月开始起跑,并且以成功征服了16个城市,目前已有上百万人观赏到这场精彩的演出!

除了让人赞叹的舞台设计及超玄的灯光效果之外,刘德华也将呈献多首脍炙人口的歌曲如“一起走過的日子” 、“忘情水” 、“中國人” 、“笨小孩” 、“愛你一萬年” 、“你是我的女人” 、“男人哭吧不是罪”、“Everyone is No. 1”等。

演唱会是由UnUsUaL Entertainment 带给您。

STAND UP COMICS' FUNNIEST LINES

I saw this in the latest issue of Reader's Digest September 2008 page 50-53 so I thought I would share some here.

Jerry Seinfeld:
So they're showing me, on television, the detergents getting out bloodstains. I mean, come on, you got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it. maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem right now.

Ellen DeGeneres:
Have you seen the deer heads on the walls of bars, the ones wearing party hats, sunglasses and streamers? I feel sorry for them because obviously they were at a party having a good time...

Steve Martin:
First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.

Bill Cosby:
Women don't want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what you think - in a deeper voice.

Roseanne:
I will CLEAN HOUSE when Sears makes a vacuum you can ride on.

Roseanne:
Men can read maps better than women. 'Cause only the male mind could conceive of one inch equalling a hundred miles.

Robin Williams:
The problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.

Robin Williams:
You know, you get that tattoo of barbed wire when you're 18. By the time you're 80, it's a picket fence.

David Attell:
Garbagemen come at 5 AM. Why? They're picking up garbage. It's not going to go bad again.

Bob Hope:
You know, MARRIAGE is making a big comeback. I know personally that in Hollywood people are marrying people they never married before.

Jay Leno:
I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries." The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"

Jay Leno:
NASA says they have proof that parts of Mars were once submerged under water, which means it could have supported life. Of course, water doesn't always mean intelligent life - you remember Baywatch?

Jeff Foxworthy:
You don't get married to get sex. Getting married to get sex is like buying a 747 to get free peanuts.

Mike Birbiglia:
What I need is to find a woman who loves me for my money but doesn't understand maths.

Joan Rivers:
You know you're getting old when work is a lot less fun and fun is a lot more work.

Conan O'Brien:
LEGO has announced that they are shutting down their US factory and moving it to mexico. LEGO employees sya it's their fault because they made the factory too easy to take apart and rebuild somewhere else.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

TODAY IS THE D-DAY!

May the best man win!

ALL THE BEST TO MALAYSIA!

I pray for a brighter future!

Monday, August 25, 2008

STUDIO PHOTOS SNEAK PREVIEW

More to come when they finish it over a month's time. These are meant to be rushed for red card design usage.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

FOOTBALL: SUPERCOPA WEEKEND

Apart from the closing ceremony of the Olympics, the Supercopa matches in both Spain and Italy was decided during the weekend. Real Madrid came back from the dead to win the cup against Valencia while Inter Milan needed the penalty shoot-out to beat Roma.

The two transfers that have been having headlines lately are Berbatov to Manchester United and Robinho to Chelsea. Will both of them go through as both have been dragging about in the news for some time now? Shevchenko is finally back to AC Milan. Let's see whether he will recapture his old form back. We know what he used to be capable of and we just need to sit back and watch.

Meanwhile, Argentina won the Olympics gold medal. Congratulations to them! Angel Di Maria was the scorer. Sorry for Brazil that they have yet to win an Olympic gold medal.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

WALL·E

...stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. 'He' basically was left on earth to clean up the mess (trash) from products sold by Buy N Large corporation. The only friend he has is a cockroach. All the humans left earth in a gigantic ship Axiom. One day, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a far more advanced and sleek robot, came to earth to find plant life so as to determine if earth is ready to support human life once again. Once you see her, you know she resembles the iPod while Wall-E resembles the ugly mp3 players design out there in the market today. Hehe!

Anyway, so I don't want to create too much spoilers here, just enough descriptions for you to go watch the movie. Wall-E followed her back to the Axiom and met all kinds of different robots made for different functions to aid the human beings. The humans lost bone mass after living in micro-gravity for hundreds of years, making them too obese to stand or even move around without the robotic help.

Basically, the movie is predicting and revealing the deep shit our planet will face in the future if we continue to pollute it like how we can't stop today. We have robots to solve the problem and still creating more trash even in space. Mountains and high rises of trash everywhere.

This story is about:
-robotic emotions and love
-pollution and trash
-cold and loneliness earth
-futuristic life
-over-reliant on robots

Go watch it yourself! It is not your everyday happy-go-lucky animated film but I welcome the difference. As always before the film, Pixar will show the short film Presto. After watching the last Pixar film, Ratatouille, I thought they have shown the limits of CG (Computer Graphics). This one somehow turns into a Wii and focuses more into the storyline more than the graphics. The graphics are nice but there are nothing which I had never seen before. I am fine with it as they take a different approach.

Before the movie, I also saw the trailer from DreamWorks on Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. After Kung Fu Panda, they will be giving us more movies this year. It is nice to see Madagascar back as I enjoyed the first one. Hope it will be even better.

IMDb

Official Site

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

KEROPOK LEKOR

This is a local favourite cracker. Keropok means cracker in Malay. This cracker, known as Keropok Lekor is basically fish cracker. It is a famous product of Terengganu, the most extreme east coast state of Peninsular Malaysia in Malaysia. When I was in Kuantan, Pahang, the state south of Terengganu, I bought some fresh ones home. I am a big fan of keropok lekor and will never miss the chance to get the best from the country. You can tell the lousy quality of those you get around after you tasted the best. Well, anyway, the keropok lekor I bought in Kuantan was imported from Terengganu. Even the sauce was imported. You need a special chilli sauce to eat with it. The sauce has sesame seed mixed into it.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

After I bought them in long sausages form, I stored them in the freezer up in the fridge. When you want to eat them, defrost them and steam them till they are softer. The most common way to eat them is to deep fry. After getting them out from intense steaming, you can cut them up into any kind of pieces you like. Then, heat up your oil and get ready to fry them. Some people like it not so crispy while others love them extra crispy. You just need to fry longer to increase the crispy intensity. I like all sorts of versions so normally I do the less crispy to very crispy versions altogether to give some varieties to the end product.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Keropok Lekor From Terengganu

Tourism Terengganu

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Ingredients:
1 kg fish (ikan parang or ikan kembong) *[IKAN means FISH in Malay]
500g sago flour
Salt to taste
125ml water
Some ice-cubes
1 or 2 pandan leaves

Method:
Clean the fish thoroughly, remove its intestines and chop off its head and tail, leaving the body intact.

Make slits along both sides of the fish, then scrape off the meat; discard the bones. Pound, chop or mince the meat finely, adding salt to taste.

Add some ice cubes and continue mincing the fish meat. Add sago flour and water. Stir the mixture until it becomes a soft dough.

Dip your hand in the sago flour and roll the dough into a cylindrical shape.

Boil a potful of water. Add in one or two knotted pandan leaves. Drop the keropok lekor into the boiling water.

Wait for it to float and remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside to cool.

Cut the pieces diagonally into thin slices. Dry in the sun thoroughly, then deep-fry in hot oil.

Monday, August 18, 2008

CHELSEA AND LEE CHONG WEI

Being a poor Malaysian, I could not afford to subscribe to Astro. Therefore, I have to resort to watching sports live coverage elsewhere in the public area. I was at Danga Bay last night. There were two seaside eating areas with projectors projecting ESPN and STAR Sports simultaneously. I thought I should sit at a strategic location to be able to watch both Chelsea VS. Portsmouth as well as the Beijing Olympics 2008 badminton men's singles final at the same time.

I saw Deco (underwear), Lampard (guy's family jewel) but no Drogba (owe a hitting) in the starting eleven. The football match started first on ESPN while STAR Sports just shown the final moments of the badminton mixed doubles final and later the medal ceremony. Ordered a drink each and wanted to order some finger food but the guy told us all the fried food cannot be done today because the machine handling them is spoilt. Well, as expected, Chelsea were the better side, attacking and controlling possessions. It was weird to see Deco in the Blues' jersey but he seemed to blending well there. It is as if he had played there for a long time alongside Ballack, Cole, Mikel Obi and Lampard.

Then, there was a stage facing the sea which normally has some really nice singers singing. The screens of the live sport events were facing the opposite direction of the stage. Last night's singers were not that great compared to the ones I heard previously but I love their versatility to sing a wide range of songs, including Black Eyed Peas' My Humps and Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake's 4 Minutes. Nice combinations and it was great. They danced to the beat very nicely too! After that, there was even a Chinese lady singing very old Chinese songs! However, last night's crowds, like me, had to put our priorities right and sit facing the opposite direction to watch the badminton men's singles final.

Yes, you need to do multitasking if you were me. Enjoying your drinks, listening to live performances at the back, watching the Chelsea VS. Portsmouth match on the front left side and the Lee Chong Wei VS. Lin Dan match on the front right side. I think I am just too damn greedy. This is the time when I thought Intel's Core 2 Quad chips will come in handy for my brain. Haha!

Anyway, Chelsea played Anelka alone upfront. I am always a big fan of this big guy and of course enjoyed his many tries attacking Portsmouth's penalty box. I saw big mouth David James there and I declared Chelsea will win big just because of having him in front of the goal! It was not surprising then that Cole opened the scoring, Anelka got the second and Lampard scored from the penalty spot. Deco added his debut goal in his debut match in the English Premier League in the dying minutes. I missed that goal because I had already left after half-time as the 39 minutes to settle the match for Lee Chong Wei had ended.

I did not watch all the matches which Chong Wei played to reach the final. Before the match, many people told me Chong Wei has a good record against Lin Dan. However, I told them this is hosted in China, Lin Dan's territory. It is like going into the lion's den to invite the lion to fight. Lin Dan will have superior home grown advantage and support. I was expecting Chong Wei to have a very tough fight if he wants to get the gold medal.

The final was a tremendous letdown. Chong Wei looked pale, very nervous, very timid, without confidence and only wanted to be there just to play long rallies. He was very slow and at times, given such big opportunities to kill off the ball but he wasted too much time dragging to nail some points. Lin Dan was the opposite. He looked very determined, very optimistic, very confident, very enthusiastic, very energetic, super-charged, very sharp and extremely fast. Chong Wei only managed to expose the left handed Lin Dan's backhand to earn enough points in the first half. Apart from that, he was struggling to keep up with his pace.

After the first set was done, I declared I will order the Tom Yam soup if he could win the second set. I was expecting him to fight ferociously in the second set. This is an Olympics final anyway and you only get this chance once in four years. You should not surrender a final in such tame fashion. I was expecting Chong Wei to fight back to at least win the second set. I thought perhaps the 'wind' or luck was not his at the other side of the court.

I was very disappointed with Chong Wei despite getting the silver. Overall, he did not give Lin Dan any furious fights at all. There was no challenges whatsoever. There was no urgency or determination to win the match. It was as if he was there to lose. There was no threatening moments at all to chase or overtake Lin Dan. No intimidations at all. I don't know how well he played in the earlier matches to reach the final. If I am to just judge the final, he was really not deserving the final at all.

39 minutes. Straight sets. Most backhand weakness shots to gain points. Lin Dan won 21-12, 21-8. He saluted at every side of the stadium to the crowds who supported him. He threw a racket to one side, threw one shoe to the other side and another shoe to another side of the stadium. Those fans who got the Olympics gold medal winning attires of his must be going nuts. Hehe! As for Malaysian badminton, well, please wait at least another 4 years before dreaming of a gold medal.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

MOTHER OF ALL BY-ELECTIONS IN MALAYSIA

P44 PERMATANG PAUH
N10 Seberang Jaya
N11 Permatang Pasir
N12 Penanti

Candidates:
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PKR)
Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah (BN)
Hanafi Hamat (Akim)

Voters:
58,459 Total
40% 21-40 years old
25.3% 41-50 years old
18.6% 51-60 years old
16% Above 60 years old

Voters Profiles:
22,680 voters in Seberang Jaya. (Malays 14,480, Chinese 5,381, Indians 2,769, and others 54)
20,450 voters in Permatang Pasir (14,850 Malay voters, 5,247 Chinese and 250 Indian)
15,421 voters in
Penanti (11,296 Malays, 3,732 Chinese, and 371 Indians)

Poling Day:
26th August 2008

Who shall win? Vote at the side bar (especially if you can't vote at Permatang Pauh)!

237 WEEKS

All the focus right now is on Michael Phelps for his total Olympics record of 14 Olympics medals (12 gold, two bronze. There could be more from him. He is already the all-time greatest number of Olympics gold medal winner. Can somebody stop this immortal superhuman being? He's just amazing!

Well, apart from that, the 237 weeks of this post title refers to Roger Federer's strong hold of World No.1 is coming to an end. About 3 months back, a Serbian friend, Vesna, came to my office for about 2 months research internship. Since the era of Steffi Graf - Martina Hingis, I had really 99% hardly watch tennis anymore except on some occasions when I switched over to the sports channel and saw some tennis matches. It was during the French Open when I saw Vaidisova and Jankovic (it is natural that guys will be interested to watch women's tennis). She kept on declaring her love for the sport and talking non-stop about her fellow countryman, Novak Djokovic. I was introduced to Roger Federer (whom she is a fan too as well), Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The World No.1,2 and 3 are all extremely good tennis players.

I also found out that Federer has been World No.1 for over 4 years. I thought this was incredible because during the era of Michael Chang, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Tim Henman, Boris Becker, Marat Safin, Todd Martin, Goran Ivanisevic and Jim Courier, we just have nobody controlling World No.1 for that long consecutively. Oh ok, perhaps Sampras only. I started to support Nadal because I watch the La Liga and I think he is cool. From then onwards, nothing seems to be stopping Nadal. He has been climbing steadily to wrestle the world No.1 ranking from Federer. Federer is losing confidence and things have all gone wrong for him.

18 August 2008 will be the day Rafael Nadal officially becomes world No.1. Let the King of Clay take his position and hopefully he will reign supreme for more years at the top than what Federer could do.

Friday, August 15, 2008

FOOTBALL: THE BEAST LEAVES

Baptista is going to AS Roma finally. Well, most of the players I like from Real Madrid leave to AS Roma. I don't know why. Cicinho was one of them. I always like The Beast as he played well when he was in Madrid. He always score goals now and then. Offensively, he is a player to be feared with. However, I guess the formation which the coach chooses to play in Madrid forces him to always be a substitute. I wish him the very best! While Real Madrid may face AS Roma in the Champions League again and I will be laughing and clapping if they beat Real Madrid again. A more bitter defeat will be Baptista and Cicinho scoring against them.

The season is about to start and the two possible transfers left could be Huntelaar to Real Madrid and Berbatov to Manchester United. I don't know what are the chances for both to go through. Apart from that, I heard of Xabi Alonso's link to AC Milan as well as David Silva's link to FC Barcelona. Robinho is still linked with Chelsea more or less. Let's see how many of them will materialise before the transfer window closes. The English Premier League starts tomorrow!

I will watch Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs closely this season. Of course, let's not forget Aston Villa and Manchester City as well. Manchester United and Chelsea will be again favourites to get the crown. Arsenal? I see them losing even more experienced players than last season. Only Samir Nasir who is given so much hyped will be watched by me. How good is this so called future Zidane? I guess they won't achieve what they do last season. Last season they were leading confidently but to lost it because of not enough players to cover suspensions, injuries and fatigue. This season, I see them having even less experience and quantity to sustain it.

FOOTBALL SEASON IS BACK!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

PHOTOSYNTH

Interesting stuff from Microsoft Live Labs.

Check it out!

Photosynth

Navigate through your photo collections of the same subject matter as if they are stitched together as a 3D environment.

OLYMPICS GIRL'S FAKE VOICE

After the revealing of the fake footprints firework, now we know that the child singer, Lin Miaoke was lip-synching at the opening ceremony over the voice of Yang Peiyi who was considered unsuited to the lead role because of her buck teeth. Now, any more fake stuffs after this?

Olympics: Child singer revealed as fake

Beijing Olympics: Faking scandal over girl who 'sang' in opening ceremony

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY NOT FULLY 'LIVE'

Olympic Fireworks Faked For TV

1:25pm UK, Monday August 11, 2008
Mark Stone, Sky News reporter


Parts of the spectacular Beijing Olympics opening ceremony were faked, it has emerged.

The global television audience of more than three billion people watched in amazement as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium - except they were watching a computer animation.

Even the giant television screens within the stadium itself broadcast the fake images.
Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter.

But in reality they were watching a 3D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.
It even included a 'camera shake' to mimic the effect of filming from a helicopter.

The dupe was revealed by China's Beijing Times. Speaking to the paper, the man responsible for the animation said he was pleased with the result.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Gao Xiaolong told the newspaper.

"But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."
The designers even added some haziness to simulate the polluted Beijing skyline.
Broadcasters around the world had no choice but to show the footage because it all came from one feed provided by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting - the organisation responsible for filming the games.

The ceremony has also been strongly criticised by architect Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird's Nest stadium.

Writing on his blog, Mr Ai described the ceremony as "a recycling of the rubbish of fake classical culture tradition; a sacrilegious visual garbage dump and an insult to the spirit of liberty; low class sound play that's just noise pollution".

He was directly critical of China's ruling communist party, characterising the ceremony as "a showcase of the reincarnation of the Marxist imperialism; the ultimate paragon of an all embracing culture of fascist totalitarianism; an encyclopaedia that encompasses total defeat in intellectual spirit."

Mr Ai helped design the stadium alongside Swiss architect firm, Herzog and de Meuron.
But since then, he has become an outspoken blogger against the Olympics and the Chinese regime. Unusually, he has not been censored by the authorities.

Organiser said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.

PARAMETRIC MODELING

After Bentley's Generative Components, everyone is taking about the Grasshopper now. No, this is not the Cantonese 3 guys group from Hong Kong. This is basically parametric modeling, which is starting to become a hot topic in architecture and industrial design for complicated, sophisticated structurally sound design creation possibilities. I am not sure whether it will be the 'in' thing in the future, but certainly this is the hottest thing since BIM. It is capable to help explore exciting, wilder forms, facades and structures beyond your imagination and still buildable.

ParaCloud

Generative Components

SmartGeometry

Grasshopper

TopMod3D

Design ReForm

Develop3D

USD130 TO USD115 A BARREL

In Malaysia, what goes up will not come down. Gravity does not work naturally here. In Singapore, they follow the market price so much so that they can cut down the price in the morning and cut down further in the afternoon on the same day. In Malaysia, when the world crude oil price is the justification for the increase of petrol pricing in the market, it only works one way. When the price comes down, they will find other millions of excuses for not lowering down the price. The government said they will announce a new price on September 1st 2008.

Monday, August 11, 2008

INVISIBILITY CLOAK

I read with great interest about the progress of the invisibility cloak so far. They use substances that do not exist in nature called meta-materials which can be created only by manipulating matter at the atomic level. Yhis process is called nano-engineering which can push materials to a tiny scale of 0.00000066 (yes, that's 8 decimal points!) of a metre. This material can control the direction in which visible light travels by bending it around items.

Although I am worried about the negative effects this new creation will cause to mankind. This new thing is as controversial as the invention of the see-through camera few years back. Well, we just have to see how it goes.

More in depth news:

Yahoo News

Invisibility cloak one step closer, scientists say

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have created two new types of materials that can bend light the wrong way, creating the first step toward an invisibility cloaking device.

One approach uses a type of fishnet of metal layers to reverse the direction of light, while another uses tiny silver wires, both at the nanoscale level.

Both are so-called metamaterials -- artificially engineered structures that have properties not seen in nature, such as negative refractive index.

The two teams were working separately under the direction of Xiang Zhang of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley with U.S. government funding. One team reported its findings in the journal Science and the other in the journal Nature.

Each new material works to reverse light in limited wavelengths, so no one will be using them to hide buildings from satellites, said Jason Valentine, who worked on one of the projects.

"We are not actually cloaking anything," Valentine said in a telephone interview. "I don't think we have to worry about invisible people walking around any time soon. To be honest, we are just at the beginning of doing anything like that."

Valentine's team made a material that affects light near the visible spectrum, in a region used in fiber optics.

"In naturally occurring material, the index of refraction, a measure of how light bends in a medium, is positive," he said.

"When you see a fish in the water, the fish will appear to be in front of the position it really is. Or if you put a stick in the water, the stick seems to bend away from you."

These are illusions caused by the light bending when it moves between water and air.

NEGATIVE REFRACTION

The negative refraction achieved by the teams at Berkeley would be different.

"Instead of the fish appearing to be slightly ahead of where it is in the water, it would actually appear to be above the water's surface," Valentine said. "It's kind of weird."

For a metamaterial to produce negative refraction, it must have a structural array smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation being used. This was done using microwaves in 2006 by David Smith of Duke University in North Carolina and John Pendry of Imperial College London.

Visible light is harder. Some groups managed it with very thin layers, virtually only one atom thick, but these materials were not practical to work with and absorbed a great deal of the light directed at it.

"What we have done is taken that material and made it much thicker," Valentine said.

His team, whose work is reported in Nature, used stacked silver and metal dielectric layers stacked on top of each other and then punched through with holes. "We call it a fishnet," Valentine said.

The other team, reporting in Science, used an oxide template and grew silver nanowires inside porous aluminum oxide at tiny distances apart, smaller than the wavelength of visible light. This material refracts visible light.

Immediate applications might be superior optical devices, Valentine said -- perhaps a microscope that could see a living virus.

"However, cloaking may be something that this material could be used for in the future," he said. "You'd have to wrap whatever you wanted to cloak in the material. It would just send light around. By sending light around the object that is to be cloaked, you don't see it."

TimesOnline




The art of invisibility, which enabled Harry Potter to wander unseen around Hogwarts, may be just around the corner, scientists believe.

Researchers funded by the Pentagon have managed to make material that has the potential to bend light around objects to make them invisible.

By diverting light around an object scientists expect to be able to make tanks, buildings and even individual infantrymen disappear from view.

For the military such a cloak would be the ultimate camouflage, but it would have many other uses, perhaps eventually allowing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak to be merchandised.

In tests carried out in the United States, researchers were able to construct a prism that bent light “the wrong way” and so would make an object appear to vanish. The results of the experiments by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, will be published this week in the journals Nature and Science, but the full papers were released early online last night.

Similar techniques using microwaves, which are much easier to control, were demonstrated two years ago, but this is the first time that they have been successfully carried out in three dimensions with visible light.

“This straightforward and elegant demonstration enhances our ability to mould and harness light at will,” researchers said. “Invisibility cloaks get a step closer to realisation, with the demonstration of a new material that can bend visible light the wrong way for the first time in three dimensions.”

The prism used to bend the light was made from metamaterials, substances artificially created using nano-engineering, which refracted it in the opposite direction from the way that it would through a glass prism.

Bending light in the wrong way, negative refraction, is thought to be impossible with naturally occurring materials but the metamaterials, which had a fishnet structure made from silver nanowires, overcame the problem.

Researchers believe that the technique can now be developed to create an invisibility cloak that would direct light waves around an object. To the observer the effect of diverting light around an object would be to hide it because none of the light would reflect off it to give away its position.

The scientists were reassured that little of the light was lost during the process of bending, meaning that high definition would be maintained. This would be important for the development of an invisibility cloak because a fuzzy appearance to a landscape would give away to an observer that something was being hidden.The researchers believe that the technology employed could be used to develop the “perfect lens”, which would be able to reveal objects that are smaller than the wavelength of light.

The experiments are a development of work by Sir John Pendry, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London, who originally outlined how metamaterials could be constructed to cloak objects by deflecting and controlling radiation. He said that in the short to medium term the most likely application of a cloaking device would be to hide objects such as aircraft and tanks from radar.

Fact panel: Missing in action

— A “cap of invisibility” was used by several Greek figures, including Athena and Hermes, to hide from supernatural beings

— In The Republic, by Plato, Gyges finds a ring that renders him invisible. He uses it to enter the royal court, seduce the queen and kill the king

— The Invisible Woman is a Marvel Comic character. Susan Storm Richards is exposed to a cosmic storm, which endows her with the ability to bend lightwaves

— In H. G. Wells's The Invisible Man, Griffin, a scientist, manages to change his body's refractive index to match air and becomes invisible

AYAKA (飯田 絢香 Iida Ayaka)

I mentioned previously in the post about Misia and Onitsuka Chihiro that Ayaka could be the next big thing. I first heard her voice officially in the drama, Sapuri back in 2006 where the song, Real Voice was used as the ending theme song. She has some really nice songs under her belt already. I do feel she has great talent with a very strong voice. Many people said she looks like Utada Hikaru from some angles. Well, I think so too. Anyway, 絢香 Ayaka will be the next big thing in Japan so do watch out!















Sunday, August 10, 2008

NUBIAN GOAT'S MILK

The Closest Food to Mother's Milk

Photobucket

Lamb / mutton is my favourite meat and is probably among the most easiest to cook meat in the world regardless of the way you want to prepare it. It is probably the last farm animal which has no international contamination problems which includes mad cow disease for beef, bird flu for chicken and duck as well as JE (Japanese Encephalitis) for pork. However, not many people like this meat because of the 'goaty' odour that most people are turned off to. The toughest part is probably to cover the odour when you prepare mutton soup Chinese style. Therefore, a lot of white pepper is used. The Indian mutton soup is much different and I love anything mutton/lamb.

Photobucket

What about goat's milk? Well, I know the Indians sell this milk the most around here. I don't really see the Chinese or Malay preparing it. I have never dared to try it as I heard scary stories of how bad the milk will smell. Yew! Well, commercially I have seen goat's milk in tablet forms as well as in the Tetra Pak form (S$11!!! in Singapore against normal cow's milk averaging between S$2-S$4 with the same amount of litres). Finally, I see one selling fresh goat milk commercially in Johor Bahru.

Photobucket

They claim that they have a 83-acre farm situated at the fringe of Panti Forest Reserve, 65 feet above sea level in Kota Tinggi (High City translated directly but yet always flooded, don't ask me why!), Johor. Their close to 1,000 imported Swiss Dairy Goats are given quality feeds to produce quality milk. The farm management is based on Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) as advocated by Department of Veterinary Services (DVS).

Photobucket

Why drink goat's milk?

Easy Digestion
Goat's milk does not contain agglutinin, and thus fat globules do not cluster together, making them easier to digest.

Easy Absorption
Higher proportion of short and medium-chain fatty acids that is smaller in size is rapidly digested and absorbed.

Less Allergenic
Goat's milk does not contain the complex of proteins that are key stimulants of allergic reactions.
Less Lactose
The lower level of lactose in goat's milk is advantageous to lactose-intolerant persons.

Higher Nutrients
It is higher in calcium, significantly more potassium and niacin. It has more vitamin A, vitamin B-6, copper and antioxidant selenium than cow's milk.

Therapeutic Values
Goat's milk is known to be beneficial to various ailments such as allergies, jaundice, artritis, ulcers and skin problems while enhancing immune functions.

Nutritious yet Delicious
Nubian Goat's Milk tastes great without the strong 'goaty' odour of goat's milk.

Photobucket

The staffs told me that if I can return 20 empty bottles after consuming the milk, I will receive 1 free loaded bottle.

1 bottle (200ml) = RM4.50, 20 bottles = RM90. I think I will be very poor.

Photobucket

I tried it and I have to say I am impress by the fresh taste of the milk. It is true that there is no 'goaty' odour to the milk. I guess the legend of the 'goaty' odour of the goat milk is not true after all, at least for the one I tried.

Photobucket

Nubian Goat's Milk

Photobucket

I have to say I am extremely impressed with the design of the brochure. It does not look like a typical local brochure. The colours and the drawings make it very attractive. I am sure it is enough to tempt the kids to try it out!

Photobucket

Nice taste. Yummy! Too expensive for me to consume this on a regular basis. I will go broke because of goat's milk.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

HAPPY 43TH BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!

As well as to Jasmine Wong too!

I hope the country will continue to prosper and improve to maintain its growth and progress even more. I may be a Malaysian but I do owe Singapore quite a lot for the education and working opportunities as well as experience.

Friday, August 08, 2008

RELAX FISH SPA

I saw it first in the Taiwanese show and then in Singapore. Finally decided to try it out in Tesco Extra Plentong since they have a promotion now.

Photobucket

Check out my legs!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Then, Lee Ling's.

Photobucket

Photobucket

You can easily tell the big difference. The fish attacked my feet like no tomorrow and hers were minorly touched at all. Guess that sums up the amount of dead skin I have. You will first feel extremely ticklish. I was laughing non-stop myself. I saw some others who tried after I had been there for some time to also laugh like crazy. I guess it gets worst when you see the bigger fish coming to your feet because they have stronger mouths! Haha! When you see them coming, you have to prepare yourself. Once you get used to it, it is no longer that bad. Worth trying for those who have never experience it. Well, after that, I really cannot tell the difference. Haha!

20 minutes RM20, promotion:RM13
30 minutes RM28, promotion:RM18

Unique Effectiveness of "Doctor Fish" Treatment:
-Completely getting rid of skin smear, ageing cortes, dead skin and bacteria.
-Helps variety of foot ailments like smelly foot, cracked hells, itchy.sensitive skin etc...
-Acupunture effect to hel reduce high blood pressure and treats diabetes
-Protecting your skin for a healther and more brilliant skin
-Ecological and Natural Recreation
-Safe and without side effects


Locations:
Kajang Tesco, Ampang Tesco, Johor Tesco, Malacca Tesco, Selayang Mall Giant

Thursday, August 07, 2008

FOOTBALL: LEGENDARY SIR BOBBY WILL DIE 'SOONER RATHER THAN LATER'

It is very sad for the footballing world to hear about this. I hope for the very best for him.

Goal.com

FOOTBALL: NO TRANSFER!

C.Ronaldo said: I'm Staying!

DieHardX replied: Thank goodness! The world record transfer fee will not be broken yet! May a more worthy future footballer legend who plays beautiful and spectacular football broke Zidane's record instead. Someone like Messi or Fabregas will be more worthy and not an actor and diver!

I like this Goal.com article which is trying its best to compare CR (€90m) and VDV (€9m).

Spanish Debate: Van Der Vaart - A Better Signing Than Ronaldo?
6 August 2008 09:44

Real Madrid completed their first true signing of the summer yesterday by landing not Cristiano Ronaldo, but rather Rafael van der Vaart.

Indeed, Ronaldo-mania has taken something of a back seat in recent days, with even the ever-excitable Madrid president Ramón Calderón proclaiming that the Dutchman might well be the only new arrival before the end of August.

In other words, prepare for a Ronaldo-less season at Madrid, contrary to the hype and counter to the blancos' hopes. But one can't help but wonder if, in a way, they might have got themselves a better deal in landing Rafa.

Better Or Best?

First of all, though, there needs to be a mention of who is actually 'better'. It's alwayts tough to compare players whose positions and roles don't precisely match up, but nonetheless we can attempt to do so.

Let's start by looking at what they have in common: both are, in simple terms, attacking midfielders; both get on the scoresheet with something approaching regularity; both have taken on leadership roles (after a fashion) for their respective club sides; both are young; and both are prominent on the international scene. In these ways they can be rightly compared.

In short, if you weigh up these factors then Ronaldo is superior. His goalscoring record would be phenonemal for an out-and-out striker; that he managed such a 40+ despite playing wide last season was only just short of miraculous. Van der Vaart's 20-odd Bundesliga goals in the past three seasons, while respectable, pale in comparison. Even in terms of set-pieces - a Rafa specialty - Ronaldo is perhaps even superior.

In terms of dictating play, Ronaldo may also have the edge. From his wide position he can either play the killer pass or, even more often, cut inside and use his blistering pace to fox full-backs and central defenders. Van der Vaart, too, can breach the back line, but he is not quite so adept in doing so; his through ball ability and ability to hit with both feet (yes, although it is his left that is famous, he is ambidextrous) are impressive, but insofar as they are compared to Ronaldo's he falls inches short, although his tendency to play more centrally means that he's no stranger to seeing plenty of the ball.

Ronaldo has been criticised for his form with Portugal, and all but the most die-hard fan would have to admit that his detractors are onto something. Try as he might, he can't quite replicate the world-class aura he has with United in the red-and-green of his country, whereas Rafa has arguably had some of his finest ever performances for the Oranje. However, for the sake of this debate this is quite irrelevant: Ronaldo is signing for a club, not a country, and at the absolute pinnacle of the club game he has proved his worth time after time. Van der Vaart, playing at second-tier clubs for his whole career, has yet to do so.

In other words, it would take a brave person to argue that Madrid have landed a better player on paper, for Ronaldo is not only better, but probably the world's best. Nonetheless there are compelling reasons as to why they Madrid, despite failing to land him, have made a better signing for their squad and for their pocketbook.

Positive Attributes

For one thing, he brings to Madrid the kind of range of passing that they need to feed forwards in Raúl and Van Nistelrooy. As I said on Monday, with Wesley Sneijder out medium-term it is important that someone else come in to deliver the killer pass, especially if Guti is injured, and in van der Vaart they have a cheap yet continental-class player just itching to do so.

Second, the ex-Ajax man, who sat in the stands with a furious expression on his face when stricken by injury at Ajax, has said that the occasional spell on the bench doesn't bother him. In a side so laden with midfield expertise this is no small matter, and even if his statement was to play up to the cameras and the fans, well, he's said it now and he can't take it back!

In all seriousness, though, Bernd Schuster is going to have a nearly impossible task in keeping his squad happy this season, and if Ronaldo arrived at the club he would (through absolutely no fault of his own or even Ronaldo's) have a player whose talent and cost necessitate a place in every single line-up for which he is available. Van der Vaart, having cost so much less, does not put this sort of pressure on his boss.

A Man Has His Price (Tag)

That brings us the deeply obvious, and perhaps most important factor: his price tag. At €9m VDV is something of a steal: that he was itching to leave Hamburg and he'd apparently set his heart on Spain meant that Madrid had an edge in negotiations, but even so a starting fee of this amount is some fine business for the Spanish side. Often only players at the end of their careers leave for such sums - Deco, approaching retirement, cost more to Chelsea - but despite being relatively young Rafael left Hamburg for quite little.

Compare and contrast this to the amounts being thrown in the media for Ronaldo. €90m? For the world's best player such a price may be considered "fair", insofar as such astronomical sums hold any meaning whatsoever, but is it prudent to spend it at all? One wonders if a single man can make such a difference that a price tag of this magnitude is appropriate. Fans of Luis Figo would argue that it is, but those with an eye on Madrid's financial future, not to mention the wealth of other players available for a third of the price of Ronaldo, may state otherwise.

And finally, it may now mean that Robinho remains at the Bernabéu. Regular readers of this column know of my admiration for the Brazilian, even aside from his off-the-field indiscretions, and I've also said in the past that for Madrid to punt an aspiring great in favour of a 'Galactico' would be short-sighted and self-defeating. Robinho could perhaps one day match Ronaldo - maybe he will, maybe he won't, but if he's sold now Madrid will never know if the wannabe best player in the world could outmatch the current best player in the world.

In short, there is no doubting that Cristiano Ronaldo would walk into any team on the planet, and almost certainly improve it. Definitely he would be an asset to Real Madrid. But whether or not his price tag and his influence outweigh such benefits are open to debate when another fine player is available is just a tenth of the price. I've said my piece: I now leave it, dear reader, to you.

Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

RISE AND FALL, RAGE AND GRACE

THE OFFSPRING

Listen to the songs here.

Photobucket

Alright, their album had been released since 16 June 2008. I am absolutely late on reporting this but I had known about it for a long time. I guess I totally forgot about checking it out after that. I have been hearing The Offspring since the Smash album in 1994. Later, Ixnay On The Hombre (1997), Americana (1998) and Conspiracy of One (2000) were the other albums I followed faithfully. I still remember I bought Americana extremely early, way before I hear any of the songs in the radio back then. It was the afternoon after I finished the school extra curriculum activities. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) caught my attention then for its uniqueness after I played it right after I reached home from school. The rest was history then when it was played so frequently after that it must be their most successful song ever.

I have to admit punk rock is really a very rare species nowadays, it is almost extinct like heavymetal. The only other influential punk rock band is Sex Pistols. I was brought up to enjoy these two genres but I really can't find anyone to be capable of replacing Metallica and The Offspring. The way the band was formed is in the most bizarre circumstances and I would say very weird combinations. Check out the history at Wikipedia, The Fountain of Knowledge.

The Offspring History

The Offspring always have very creative way of presenting their albums as well as getting all those playful introductions, intermissions and endings into their albums. I am not sure whether they still do that nowadays. Therefore, you are always in for a pleasant surprise. You will find yourself purposely wait until the very end after the last song of the album to find some funny / vulgar stuffs.

Some of the best songs they ever done were Come Out and Play (Keep 'em Separated), Self Esteem, All I want, Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), Why Don't You Get A Job?, The Kids Aren't Alrught and Original Prankster.

How is my opinion of the new album? Well, to hear Dexter Holland's voice after so long is surely nice. I never get bored with the music and voice of The Offspring and I love to hear the album regardless if all the songs suck by public opinion. I just miss such music so much. I am glad they are back. I am not at all disappointed by the music and voice! Keep on rocking baby!

Dexter Holland, by the way, is probably one of the coolest humans ever alive today. Holland was the class valedictorian at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California and was a Ph.D. candidate in Molecular Biology in University of Southern California but abandoned it to focus on his singing career. He has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Molecular Biology from USC too. He is also a licensed Airline Transport Pilot, making a solo trip around the world in 10 days.

One of my ultimate dreams is to attend The Offspring and Metallica concerts at least once in my life. Will they ever come to this part of the world or will I ever get such opportunities in the future?

YOUTUBE The OffspringTV's Channel

GAPMINDER

The future of how graphs and charts are to be presented? Maybe.... I checked it out and it is interesting.

Gapminder

8.8.8.8.

8th August 2008 at 8pm. That's the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Chinese are crazy of the Number 8. They love it so much because they believe it means prosperity / wealth / fortune. Therefore, even the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will be focused on getting as many Eights as possible right from the date to the time.

Wikipedia has this to say:
The word for "eight" (八,捌) in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" ( - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat" and "faat".

There is also a resemblance between two digits, "88", and the shuang xi ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (xi, 'joy', 'happiness').

The many issues encountered before the games is really making this Olympic Games into more than just a sport event. The terrorist threats, the pollutions, the Sichuan earthquake, the Great FireWall of China to cut down on press freedom, the Xinjiang, Tibet and Falun Gong are all the problems and potential problems faced before the games. Hopefully, everything will settle down nicely when the real events take place.

Photobucket

When I was in Shanghai more than a year ago, they had already been promoting the games. The mascots were already appearing in all sorts of forms. Well, they have a full description from their website. Basically they all combined together to mean literally Beijing Is Welcoming You!

"Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation."

I like the ONE WORLD ONE DREAM as the main theme for the Games.

Photobucket

As for the architecture, of course there are a few crucial landmarks already created for the games. For the full descriptions, you can check out the information here. The two most crucial buildings are the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. The Bird's Nest is the National Stadium designed by the famous Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron with China Architecture Design Institute. Bird's nest is a Chinese culinary tradition with many health benefits and your guess is as good as mine why it ended up being the main building for the games. The Water Cube is actually the National Aquatics Centre. The famous environmental friendly Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), which is the 'in' thing now for architectural design is used heavily in the building design. It allows the light and heat penetration into the interior to cut down energy cost. The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a foam. The building was designed by PTW Architects, CSCEC International Design and Arup.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

BBQ CHICKEN

KOREA'S NO.1 CHICKEN RESTAURANT

What do you do if you want to be healthy and still want to enjoy fast food? Healthy fast food? No way man, they are totally the Yin and Yang of the extreme opposite. Healthy food and fast food are just not meant for each other.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Well, you can have a marriage of healthy fast food by going to BBQ Chicken restaurant. They claim they are the first in the world to 100% use olive oil. It is not just any ordinary olive oil but extra virgin olive oil, probably the most expensive cooking oil in the world. I use the oil for cooking too. From experience, I can tell you that you need a lot of oil to be able to cook stuffs because it is just not oily enough and hence, you will end up having things stuck on your wok. Therefore, to fry things with extra virgin olive oil, I am sure they need a huge amount! They opened their first branch in Johor Bahru and we decided to go to check it out. They have the 50% discount for the Mon-Fri 2-6pm promotions till 31st August 2008 at the Tesco Extra Plentong.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

The shop was rather empty. When we went in, there was only us and another table. I guess it takes time to get people to know about this restaurant so they should really promote the restaurant more. I am not sure whether their extra virgin olive oil as the main attraction for business will really bring in the crowd in the third world country like Malaysia. In Malaysia, people don't really care about the healthy issues that much. What they care about is cheap and good taste. That's it!

Photobucket

We ordered the fried original chicken (RM13.40), jerk BBQ chicken(RM14.50), Teri-Q wings (RM11.50), a ChocoNata dessert (RM7.20) and a glass of Pepsi (RM3.50).

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Total: RM50.10
Discount: RM25.05
Service Charge: RM2.51
GST 5%: RM1.25

TOTAL DAMAGE: RM28.81 (8.78692 USD / 5.67997 EUR /4.49291 GBP / 12.1122 SGD)

My opinion of the food? It was generally nice and the oil really give it a more natural flavour. When you eat the fried chicken's extremely crunchy and crispy skin, you can tell they don't add any preservatives. The Korean BBQ sauce on the grilled chicken is great. The Teriyaki sauce chicken wings are well done too. The dessert is acceptable to me as well. Therefore, I guess the extra virgin olive oil really give a nice smell to the food and did give a unique taste to the fast food. It doesn't mean it is the best I ever tasted and it is not the worst. However, health conscious people who loves fast food now have a choice. Oh, they gave too much french fries to the meal. I saw repeated past customers not able to finish the amount of fries and so are we. I guess they need the huge amount of fries to cover the plate. Hehe!

Photobucket

There are branches available throughout the world:
Seoul
Singapore
New York
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Madrid
Barcelona
Tokyo
Beijing
Shanghai
Shenzhen
Sydney
Kuala Lumpur
Penang
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh
Ulan Bator


Photobucket

Olive oil is unique when it comes to foods that have a direct impact on beautiful skin. A few of the benefits of a diet rich in anti-inflammatory anti-oxidant olive oil include:
-increase the skins ability to maintain moisture
-increases "good cholesterol"
-decrease "bad cholesterol"
-decreases gastric acid secretion in ulcers
-helps intestinal absorption
-helps gail bladder activity
-lowers probability of gallstones
-lowers glucose levels in diabetics
-stimulates pancreas secretion
-aids developing bone in children
-prevents osteoporosis
-reduces risk of prostate cancer
-reduces the risk of breast cancer

Photobucket

Well, the location of the shop is also not very nice. It is situated between Shakey's Pizza and KFC, their direct main competitor for fried chicken. I thought it was a big mistake in the very first place. Finally, your guess is as good as mine, why in the world do they call themselves BBQ Chicken when the main attraction seems to be the fried chicken? I wonder too.

Photobucket

BBQ Chicken