Whose side will you take?

socceroos

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is upon us again! πŸ™‚

olabola football

It’s another month of going to mamaks and watching the games in large projection screens on Astro, sleepy people at the office and lots of fantasy football games and I have been looking forward to this one for four (4) years!

game on

Astro is also integrating a lot of social components into the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup this year. They have a portal called Whose side will you take? which has several different things going on all at once. There’s a face-painting app, fantasy football based on the games, fixtures of upcoming matches and more all on the same site so there’s easy access to everything from contests to news!

facepainting

The first one is a drive to show your support for your favorite team by painting your face in their colors! Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to get your face dirty if you’re concerned about that (boo, not a real fan :p) – the wonders of modern technology allows your face to be *virtually* painted!

Just allow the Facebook app access to your profile and you’ll have a cool profile picture to use during the World Cup season!

olabola facepainting

It’s a really cool app too, the way the colors are painted virtually on your profile picture is amazing, it’s really realistic! Best of all, it’s aiming to be the largest face painting drive so you get to be part of history!

fantasy football

There’s also the Ola Bola Fantasy Football where you can pick your dream team and see how you perform during the World Cup season! It can be as complicated or as easy as you want so it satisfies both hard core fantasy football fans and casual gamers.

I found it to be a lot of fun! I want a lot of customization so I chose my own players (you can choose 4 max from each country) but if you just want to get into it, the fantasy football app can automatically choose everything from the players to the team for you!

lucky dip

I suggest using the auto-pick if you’re new to fantasy football.

The best thing about this is that there are prizes to be given away! The best team in the Fantasy Football Olabola Edition will get:

First Prize
RM 5,000 + PlayStation 4 + FIFA 14 game

Second Prize
RM 3,000 + PlayStation 4 + FIFA 14 game

Third Prize
RM 1,000 + PlayStation 4 + FIFA 14 game

prediction

There’s also an app called the Olabola Football Predictor where you can show off your prediction skills in real time during the World Cup! I know people who would love this! If you’re always saying how good you are and how would have predicted the match right down to who got the first goal and the exact score, it’s time to put your mouse where your mouth is and you could win a foosball table!

world cup

I’ll see you all inside Ola Bola! Pick a side for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and come and challenge my uber powerful team if you can! My team is called SixthSeal.

Unity is Strength

petaling street

I am a Chinese kid born and raised in a small town in Sarawak. It is predominantly Chinese so I didn’t have a lot of interactions with other races. I was shipped off to New Zealand at the age of 15 for high school and there was a lot of racism going on over there.

I have never given race a serious thought before. Who would have known that being of a different culture would cause one to be a target of bullying? In my first day of school, a group of Kiwis in a car wound down their window shouted “Go back home, Chinaman!”.

However, I soon discovered that these people are the vocal minority. The vast majority did not really care as long as you can communicate with them. I guess it was the experience of being treated as a second class citizen which made me not do it to others.

lrt

When I finished my university and came back to KL to work, I had already been exposed to a melting pot of cultures in cosmopolitan Melbourne. Race didn’t mean anything to me anymore. I can only remember one incident over here – I asked someone on the road for directions in Shah Alam and was told in a less-than-friendly manner “Cakap Bahasa Melayu, jangan lupa ini Malaysia!”

It was not exactly the 1Malaysia that we have hoped for that but that was a totally isolated incident.

I can think of many more other positive interactions with strangers – like the one when I was lost in KL early in the morning (this was my pre-GPS days) and this kind Malay couple actually bothered to tell me to follow their car to my destination, despite it being out of their way. Now that is 1Malaysia to me.

I did a video for ASTRO’s MySTORY – the new channel for showcasing stories about 1Malaysia from people like me and you:

I shot the video in Petaling Street to illustrate my Chinese background before taking the LRT and mamak shots. The first few scenes were taken by a Dutch couple here on holiday – which I profiled as Least Likely To Run Away With Your Digital Camera (TM) ;).

dutch couple

I wanted to do one with different races locking arms and saying “We are Malaysians” but decided it would be too cheesy so I came up with the pigeon analogy instead.

…which I discovered by chance, while navigating from the car park to Petaling Street.

There was a flock of pigeons pecking away at a discarded pack of rice. The rice is Malaysia, it’s our economy, and the pigeons are Malaysians, irregardless of race. We are in this together. We literally share the same rice bowl and there’s enough for everyone.

national monument

I think we are coming closer to a united Malaysia – it’s just a matter of time. Sure, we crack some racist jokes now and then, and others do the same, all in the name of fun, but no one takes offence anymore. There is also an increasing amount of mixed race relationships (which I predict would be an archaic term in 10 years) which would produce offspring that truly represents Malaysia.

I remember Harith Iskandar’s joke about his yet-to-be-born children – he’s Malay while his wife is Chinese/Indian/Caucasian so would his future kids have to tick Malay, Chinese, Indian, and also the “dan lain lain” column?

Despite it being a joke, I am all for a 1Malaysia. I was born here, spent most of my life here and I plan to stay here. It would be nice for all third generation people to be recognized as Bumiputera but that would be an issue which would resolve itself in time.

It is possible, as the famous words “I have a dream…” uttered by Martin Luther King sparked off what is now an ideal situation for African-Americans in the United States. It is a trend that will endure, with the globalization of our world.

tugu negara

I believe in a 1Malaysia. One country, one race, one nation.

Interested in being featured on TV? Shoot your own 1Malaysia story and submit it at www.astro.com.my/mystory.

Outrun the security guard!

doof

I have enjoyed a very rich life and taken all the risks that comes with living life on the fast lane. I can’t say I have any regrets…if I had to go through it all again, I would have done the same thing. However, the only fallout that really got to me was when I was…er, asked politely to stay at a facility with limited access to the general population a.k.a incarceration. *runs out of euphemisms*
smirk

rave

I have since then made it my personal resolution to not ever get into the same situation again. /cue “You’ll never take me alive!”

pee

However, I have participated in a blogathon where we had to sit in an enclosed space for 24 hours in total. The only difference is that my fellow bloggers were not murderers or serial rapists (at least I don’t think they are ;)) and I didn’t have to watch my back every time I dropped something. smirk

support

It was actually pretty fun, in hindsight.

lainey

There is an upcoming event where 4 bloggers will be physically confined to an enclosure and asked to perform various tasks. I don’t know what the tasks are but I can throw out a couple of suggestions to the event organizers!

Hold it in!

holding-pee

I actually saw this in those wacky Japanese game shows. The participants were forced to drink several liters of beer, stripped down to their loincloth and forced to sit in a tub full of water complete with ice cubes. The man who manages to hold it in the longest wins the challenge.

This was in winter and one memorable scene which still makes me laugh to this very day is one guy whose face was practically contorted in concentration, before deciding to throw in the towel.

He actually ran sideways like a crab to the toilet before the boos of the crowd made him rescind his moment of weakness and he retreated back to the tub. The expression on his face? Priceless! HAHAHA! These Japanese sure know a thing or two about making their tasks akin to torture.

Outrun the security guard!

shoplifting

Okay, now since this thing is being held in a mall I have a great idea for a task. Each blogger has to shoplift something from a specific store. There will the the usual CCTVs and corporate security guards around but they won’t know which ones are the bloggers. The person who reaches the exit of the mall wins! However, if you get caught, you still have an option – break free from the guard and make a run for it!!!! The first blogger who gets to the mall exit wins (coz that’s where the jurisdiction of the mall cops ends).

Guess the exit!

hitting-head

This is a spin off from the second task and also inspired by those crazy Japanese game shows. Each blogger will be given free reign to run through the mall and try to exit the mall. Think Cube the movie. The automatic glass doors are all locked except for one, but the bloggers would not know which one it is.

The trick here is that every single blogger will have to run headfirst at full speed towards the auto glass doors – it has an element of luck to it so it can be a tie-breaker. If it’s the correct (operating) glass door, you’re off scot free. If it’s not, well, it’s time to break out the ice packs for that bruise on your head. smirk

cutting

Yup, it’s the second incarnation of Marquis de Sade here. smirk

There will also be a contest running on Astro’s Facebook page starting on the 1st of June. It seems that one of the mechanics would be to comment on a moment when you wish you can record in your life. This is an easy one for me. I would choose my time with Stephanie – I was 24 and she was 29. She’s perhaps the only person I’ve ever truly loved in my life, so I can replay it over…and over…and over…again.

steph

Oh well, back to the event, just be thankful that I am not the person who’s organizing the tasks. Haha!

votes

The four bloggers who will be at this event on the 5th of June will be Michael, Eiling, RedMummy and BeautifulNara in conjunction with the Astro PVR roadshow.

vote list

I consider both Mike and Mira to be my friends and I’ve even shared the same room (but not the same bed la) with Nazuwan in Kuching but I’ve been asked to choose one blogger to support and that has gotta be:

eiling

Eiling

She’s been an awesome friend and even invited me to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family last year in Ipoh so sorry guys, I’m going to root for Eiling. I know her sisters too – just bumped into Yiling a couple of days ago. I’ll be there the entire day to support her!

ezy

A good friend will come bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, “Damn, that was fun!”.

It’s next Saturday! See you all there!

Astro B.yond Bloggers Night

astro byond me toilet

O hai! I iz here terrorizing your female toilet! 

astro byond modestos

The Astro B.yond Bloggers Night was held at Modesto’s, Desa Sri Hartamas last Wednesday. It was a blast – Nuffnangers packed the place to the rafters despite it being a working weekday. 

astro byond murder in the details clues

I went to the venue early in the afternoon. Besides helping Caydence stick up stuff in the toilets, I was slated to be the MC for the on-ground game so I had to be there for the dry run. 

astro byond caydece toilet

You know how much sheer effort goes into organizing an event like this? 

astro byond setup

I used a calculator to work the figures out and it damn near exploded on me. Suffice to say it takes A Whole Goddamn Lot (TM) of effort to make it happen. 

astro byond desa park city

There was a HD New Year Resolution video shoot at Desa Park City a couple of weeks ago to debut at the Astro B.yond Bloggers Night. 

astro byond new year resolution

I was one of the bloggers in that video. 

astro byond hdtv kim

It took the better part of the afternoon under the hot sun to wrap up the shoot. Desa Park City is a nice location but apparently the management does not believe in foliage which provides shade. πŸ˜‰ 

astro byond hdtv camera

The blogger’s NY resolution video was sent off to a studio for post-production and shown in full HD glory during the night. 

astro byond studio

I brought a change of clothes to Modesto’s so I can wear a t-shirt inside the venue. We stuck up all the clues and rehearsed for the re-enactment with Fresh. 

astro byond me caydence start

My car reeks of ethanol so I chucked my shirt into Caydence’s car (coz her car smells nice) before we changed at about 6 pm. 

astro byond shirt

Insider account: 

astro byond board

The Murder in the Details game is a Facebook application that we organized an on-ground activation for (damn big words right? England powderful) and it involves sourcing around for an acceptable murder weapon. I wanted it to be realistic – as in a real knife – but apparently there were apprehensions about having that on stage so I borrowed one from Modesto’s.

It’s a butter knife so it’s not going to kill anyone. Hey, I’m the one being stabbed so no worries on that. :p 

astro byond henry tan

The Astro B.yond Bloggers Night started with a speech from Mr. Henry Tan, the COO of Astro, segueing nicely into the HD video shoot of the bloggers. 

astro byond tvc

I nearly jizzed in my pants when the Astro B.yond HD TVC came on. It’s a very nicely done commercial, and we’re the first to see it! I particularly liked the scene where the football player catches the ball while falling into a swimming pool with another one passing by him. 

astro byond staff

Dinner was served, along with free flow of drinks. I was running around the entire night so mine consists of a few bites of pasta I nicked from Li Yen and Eileen.

astro byond saxophone 

My saxophone tastes funny. 

astro byond asian percussion

The Asian Percussion group came in to do their thing right before the Murder in the Details game. I remember them from the Astro B.yond media launch and was impressed by their performance.

Catch them in action here! This is not HD quality I’m afraid, don’t have such equipment in my arsenal. 

astro byond mc

I was up on stage after that to attend to the Murder in the Details game.

 astro byond playing game

There are four (4) clues which you need to get right by using a magnifying glass to analyze the A4 laminated pieces of paper scattered throughout the area in order to qualify for an (educated?) guess.

The fifth and final clue is the deal-breaker – it’ll be obvious who the murderer is if you spot that so I took the liberty of pasting it UNDER the tables. πŸ˜‰ 

astro byond nuffies

The response from the crowd was fantastic! Kudos to all the people who dragged the Nuffies on stage and identified them as the “murderer” – there were a lot of red herrings (no pun intended) coz every Nuffie was wearing red and we all had Band Aids. Heh! 

astro byond jestina

Jestina was one of the people who were identified as the murderer. How can? She’s like the nicest person I know okay? :p

The murderer is Fresh of Nuffnang. She’s a very nice (ran out of adjectives and F7 in Word is not helping much) person as well, except when she stabbed me. T_T

The re-enacment of the story involved me, Fresh and Robb – basically the story goes like this: 

astro byond dead

Fresh (my wife) walked in on me during an intimate moment with another man (Robb). She got agitated and in a fit of jealousy, stabbed me with a knife. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. >.<

Appalled that her temporary insanity caused the fatality of her husband (so this is what they mean when they say “Till death do us part“) she fled the scene and cut her hand on a piece of glass. Robb, after taking all of 3 seconds to mourn my death, also fled the scene using the same route. 

astro byond fresh

Now it’s down to the winning team to answer questions related to Astro B.yond to snag the grand prize of an Astro B.yond set, a 32″ LG HDTV plus a one year subscription to Astro B.yond until December 2010.

The winner walked home with exactly that – but fret not, Astro has 2 more prizes to give away! You all stand a chance to win the prizes stated above if you write an event coverage blog post. The two best post-event coverage posts will win the Astro B.yond set + 32″ LG HDTV + subscription so let’s see what you have to offer.

murder in the details fb game

While you’re at it, join the Astro Facebook fan page for the Murder in the Details application. There are 10 Astro B.yond sets up for grabs!

If you want to get hooked up with Astro B.yond just surf over to their site or call their hotline at 1300-82-3838 to subscribe.

Hit the Nuffnang blog post if you need further details on how to win the 2 post-event coverage posts. Good luck! 

goodie bags

I left the event at about 1:30 am with Caydence and had a hard time getting my brain to function properly the next day, but I can say with all honesty and enthusiasm – it was a damn good event. I enjoyed myself to the max.

Oi! Don’t look at me liddat k? I’m not being hard sell, it just feels good to pull off an event like this and watch everyone enjoy themselves. 

astro byond me caydence end

It was a lot of fun and I had a great time being the MC. The free flow of the amber fluid helped loads too!

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