sixthseal.com

Hunt or be hunted!

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! 20 Responses »

Oct 212009

doria connecting me

The survival of the fittest doesn’t mean the Neanderthal with the largest biceps and biggest club in the forest anymore. It has turned into the man with the most Glocks. ;) Well, at least in Left 4 Dead. I have always been a gamer and I play all sorts of different games – Japanese RPGs, FPS, RTS, and other geeky acronyms.

doria setting up server

However, we had a problem setting up the Left 4 Dead server one night and had to make several calls to ask how to go about it. We ended up playing at the cybercafé till early morning.

mafia-wars

There are also a lot of Facebook games out there snagging people left, right and center since they’re easy to pick up and you can furtively play at work. This probably caused a 78% drop in office productivity (just pulled that figure out from where the sun don’t shine) so HR IS GONNA BE WATCHING YOU!!!

barn-buddy

I figured if you’re going to risk your job playing Barn Buddy on Facebook (which won’t give you any tangible rewards) you might be interested in this puzzle game (which does).

I’ve got the mechanics all figured out so I’ll give you the lowdown here:

You’ll find six (6) clues each for Mega, Tera, Giga e.g.

puzzle

This is Puzzle 5 for Giga Clues.

My dear Watson, obviously this calls for you to navigate the website and find the corresponding page.

The answer to the question is a no-brainer. It’s gotta be under Support so look up at the top navigation bar and click on that button to produce:

puzzle-piece

Your very first puzzle piece! Congrats!
popup
Now click on that puzzle piece (it’s floating on the page – see red arrow in the previous image) and it will be added to your collection in the pop up. You only have 5 more to go and you’ll complete the Giga Puzzle!

Feel free to complete the puzzles (Mega, Tera, Giga) as many times as you want. You can even repeat the same clues to get spare puzzle pieces, which would also win you a prize, as well as the title King of Spare Pieces.

…and best of all, it looks like a corporate site, so you can pretend you’re doing research or something. ;)

Gimme a break...

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! 17 Responses »

Jul 312009

kit_kat_strawberry_japan_bite

I’m a big fan of KIT KAT. It’s awesome stress food. I tend to reach for one at work (I keep a stash) when things get hectic and I need a quick break. I remember hunting down their limited editions back in 2006. They came out with Nestle Kit Kat Limited Edition X1 Cappuccino Flavor and Nestle Kit Kat Lemon Cheesecake Flavor Limited Edition 02. I’ve even had the Nestle Kit Kat Strawberry Limited Edition specially brought in from Japan.

kitkash

There are a lot of promotional bars in Melbourne when I was in university – from the KIT KA$H wafers to KIT KAT Chunky bars where a select few contains a fake plastic contraption (with a similar weight and size to the regular bars so you can’t distinguish it) which sings when you pull it out. If you get this “singing” Kit Kat bar, you’ve effectively won yourself a round-the-world trip.

display

I’ve always wondered why Malaysia doesn’t have similar promotions…until now:

shelf

I’ve always loved reading Roald Dahl’s works and I adore his vivid descriptions of food. This reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Golden Ticket…for adults! Instead of winning a trip to a chocolate factory, you get something much better – an all expenses paid trip for two to see MTV’s Featured Artist of the Month live in concert…anywhere in the world!

buy

Repeat after me: All expenses paid trip, anywhere in the world!

approve

I love travelling and music so I went to the nearest 7 Eleven after work and raided their Kit Kat supply. You just need to look out for this sticker:

sticker

Kit Kat has distilled the contest mechanics into three simple steps:

1. Have a break
2. Have a KIT KAT
3. Check inside pack

I’ve eaten several bars of Kit Kat today for lunch. I also got a couple of my coworkers to dig in – on the condition that the chocolate is free, but if there’s a prize inside, I’m keeping it. ;)

guard

I haven’t found a pack with a prize yet, but I still have a stash of Kit Kat and the contest only ends on August 28 so there’s plenty of time to work my way through the Kit Kat bars. There are iPod Shuffles and music CDs up for grabs too…check out the details here.

wrapper

Good luck!

fingers

(Break a leg/finger)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner/ The Flight of the Valkyries

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! 31 Responses »

Jul 132009

Sea. Air. It’s like yin and yang, two polar opposites of this great chunk of rock we call Earth. I’ve been to both extremes of the horizon my 28 odd years here. I’m an avid traveler, novelty hunter and thrill seeker so I have a natural affinity to new experiences. Nothing rocks my boat (pardon the pun) more than travelling the world and the seven seas.

manukan_island_snorkelling

I’ve been deep sea fishing off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. Spending three days on a fishing boat with no showers and the smell of fish permeating everything is certainly an experience which…I’ve repeated several times. Heh! There’s just something about being in the open seas doing some honest backbreaking toil (jigging for tuna is hard work, okay).

beached%20whale

I also enjoy hitting the beaches. The sun on my back, the sea in the horizon and the wind on my face…it’s paradise!

the%20artist

I’ve also been known to go au natural during my beach excursions. ;)

summit

Going a little higher in altitude, I’ve been snowboarding and skiing in Melbourne. Nothing beats hitting the slopes in winter when the weather is all gloomy and depressing.

skyventure

Moving further up the stratosphere, I’ve bungee jumped, skydived and done all sorts of aerial acrobatics…such as this ride in Genting. SkyVenture is a “vertical wind tunnel” that does a pretty good simulation of the free fall experience of skydiving…short of jumping out a plane 4 kilometers up.

I’ve always felt that something was missing though…something important.

guinness event

It just didn’t feel…extreme enough. It felt too common, for a lack of a better word.

perfect pint

I’ve been trying to top my experiences every single time. I like going to weird, out-of-place destinations like Sri Lanka.

guinness girl

There are two places which I feel are rare destinations, one more so than the other. Antarctica requires at least RM 40,000 for the trip but comes with significant boasting rights. Not many people have been down down under.

bottles

The other is of course the “final frontier” – space. This group is so elite that only a handful of private citizens have actually gone into the great beyond. I’ve been following the Ansari X PRIZE with some anticipation…it’s a step in the right direction. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind stuff.

divers

I was pleased when Richard Branson’s Virgin group launched Virgin Galactic for an out of this world (literally!) experience, dubbed space tourism. As an avid traveler, you have no idea what appendages (and perhaps even dangly bits) I would give to have a go.

I was at the Guinness 250th Anniversary Global Contest launch at Aquaria, KLCC and I am pleased to announce that you (yes, you) will have a chance to do this and more! The launch was very well orchestrated, with divers unveiling a banner and consuming bottles of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout underwater.

turtle

In a nutshell, Guinness is giving away three unforgettable experiences:

Guinness Space Experience
The winner and a friend will fly to Virgin Galactic’s home at Spaceport America, New Mexico for training before going into space for a zero gravity experience.

Guinness Sea Experience
The winner and two friends get a unique opportunity to board the first ever Guinness deep sea bar off the islands of Norway. The four day trip to Lofoten Islands includes the experience of enjoying a pint (or six) 70 meters below sea level!

Guinness Studio Experience
The winner and two friends will get to see an exclusive live performance by The Black Eyed Peas at a recording studio as part of their forthcoming world tour! You’ll also get to spend some time hanging out with the band.

guinness girl me

Sea, space or stars (Black Eyed Peas la). No matter what, you’ll be getting one hell of an experience!

pint

Learn more about the Guinness 20th Anniversary Global Contest here.

Terminator Salvation Ticket Giveaway!

Contests 116 Responses »

May 122009

Print-Keyart

I’ve always been a big fan of the Terminator franchise. My first experience was with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I was just a kid then and the movie fascinated me. I managed to find the first Terminator while in uni and caught Terminator 3 when it came out. I also follow Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles with what some might call religious fervor.

TRMSLVN_Intl_TSD-19432r

Naturally, I’m looking forward to the next installment in the Terminator series. Terminator Salvation is both a prequel and a sequel (Jesus, the intricacies of time travel) and the trailer suggests that this movie would be nothing short of outstanding.

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

Nuffnang was kind enough to allocate 15 pairs of tickets for sixthseal.com to give out to my blog readers. Just comment and tell me your first experience with the Terminator franchise and you’ll get a chance to win a pair of tickets. This is the Terminator Salvation screening so you get to watch it two days before everyone else!

Date: 26th May (Tue)
Time: 9.30pm
Venue: Cathay Cineplex Damansara (Cineleisure @ The Curve)

TRMSLVN_Intl_ATTVWD98

I will be using random.org to pick winners so it’s not the first 15 or anything like that. I will shoot a video of myself using random.org to ensure transparency. However, this being sixthseal.com, I am going to give out 3 pairs of tickets (of the 15) to the first three people that can answer this:

Q: In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, John Connor is seen breaking into an animal hospital. What substance was he after?

Hint: I posted about it on my blog in 2004. I used to have a prescription for this. It’s not in common use nowadays. If you can find the post in question, veritas takes off his (rather dusty and old) hat to you. :)

TSD-12835

It’s okay if you don’t know the answer, just comment and you can snag the 12 other pairs of tickets. Bring your date and be the first in Malaysia to watch the movie!

15 pairs of tickets to the Terminator Salvation await you! See ya at the screening!

I won an LCD TV from Sony Style!

Consumer Electronics 44 Responses »

Apr 142009

sony bravia

I won a Sony LCD TV from Sony Style. It’s from this contest the good people at Sony entered for me when I purchased my dSLR. The lucky draw gift I snagged is the KLV-20S400A BRAVIA LCD TV. It retails for RM 1,799 and it’s a flat, compact LCD TV which you can also use as a monitor. Check out the specs here. It’s brand new (just picked it up last Sunday) and unopened and comes with the full Sony warranty.

sony letter

I need cold, hard cash more than a TV to get through the month (please refer to previous post) so I’m planning to sell it. I’ll let it go for RM 1,300 (RM 500 cheaper than retail) but before I list it on Mudah.my I’ll give anyone who reads my blog the opportunity to purchase it for RM 1,200.

sony win

Email me if you’re interested. I’ll even cut a deal with you for more discounts if you’re a blogger (Terms & Conditions apply of course ;)).

The need for speed

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! 91 Responses »

Feb 122009

I’ve always wondered how fast I can push my car. I know it can go above 170 km/h on the PLUS highway but how do I get it to leave a trail of fire?

flaming

The short answer is, in the real world that is scientifically improbable. I use the word improbable coz I don’t want to look back at the sixthseal.com archives 20 years later and kick myself when they invent really fast cars which can actually leave a blazing trail behind. ;)

flames

Thus, I tried unorthodox methods of making a “blazing fast” car. Turpentine doesn’t burn, gasoline burns with a yellow flame and so does kerosene. I want a hot blue flame that doesn’t extinguish easily, so after much experimentation (much to the chagrin of the hardware shop, as I was using his premises to do the burn tests) I settled on methanol spirits.

pyros

Thus armed, I enlisted two of my friends and went to a secluded back alley near my condo – one was the driver, one was the spotter (to stop cars from driving into the flaming mess) cum camera(wo)man and I was the videographer. I used two bottles of methanol spirits to create a “trail of flame” effect behind the car and created this video in all of its unedited glory:

Okay, the video is an epic FAIL. Teng Loo wasn’t familiar with my car and she didn’t manage to put it in gear when I shouted GO! However, the effect is rather nice.

making

It got me thinking though, why would I go through all that trouble, risking arrest when I can just boost up my car performance the proper way? I could have just gotten some Castrol EDGE Sport engine oil.

While it won’t make your car leave a blazing trail of fire – it will boost your engine performance. The Castrol EDGE Sport is a race proven oil to give you that extra EDGE (no pun intended) in power and performance and protects your engine to boot!

castrol

Castrol is running an online contest called the Castrol EDGE Sport Speed Challenge that I thought is pretty original. Four teams are pitted against each other to see which group can change engine oil the fastest. The four vastly different teams are:

1. Hot Chics
2. The Geeks
3. Sweet Young Things
4. The Pros

One video will be released each week over a four-week period and you get to guess the time used by the four groups to change the engine oil. The person who enters the closest time to the actual time used by the group will be the winner. Guess & Win!

There will be one weekly winner and a grand prize winner for the Castrol EDGE Sport Speed Challenge.

Exclusive for bloggers:

Bloggers won’t miss out on this coz Castrol is kind enough to run another concurrent contest, especially for you! Exclusively for bloggers, the Blog & Win contest requires you to blog about and embed the video of the Castrol EDGE Sport Speed Challenge contest in your blog.

You can get the videos from the Castrol website. Give it your best shot! The six (6) most creative posts will win!

Win what, says you? Okay, here are the prizes for the Castrol EDGE Sport Speed Challenge contest:

GRAND PRIZE
1 unit Sony Bravia 37″ LCD TV
User with the closest overall answers for total 4 weeks.

2nd PRIZE
1 unit Sony PS3
User with the 3nd closest overall answers for total 4 weeks.

3rd PRIZE
1 unit iPod Touch 8GB
User with the 3nd closest overall answers for total 4 weeks.

5 X CONSOLATION PRIZES
1 unit WALKMAN(r) MP3 Player

4 X Weekly Prizes for Guess & Win
1 unit WALKMAN(r) MP3 Player
Users with the first accurate or closest answer for weekly videos.

6 X Prizes for Blog & Win
1 unit WALKMAN(r) MP3 Player
For bloggers who write the most creative post about the Castrol EDGE Speed Challenge.

Plus exclusive Castrol premiums for all winners!
1 unit WRC Car Model
1 unit Castrol EDGE Sport Umbrella
1 unit Castrol EDGE Sport T-shirt

Do watch the videos on the Castrol site – it’s much better than my FAIL attempt. ;)

You feel the need for speed?

Coca Restaurant RM 150 contest winners

Food 18 Responses »

Feb 032009

coca-contest

The Lord hath spoken! Coca Restaurant emailed me the list of winners from the Coca GONG XI Giveaway. There are three (3) winners and each of you gets a voucher worth RM 150 to dine at Coca Restaurant in 1 Utama or Subang Parade. The voucher is a steamboat set meal for two so bring your dining companion along!

The winners are:

1. angiep
2. Lionel
3. Cheryl

from the comments in the original post. Please don’t kill me, I wasn’t the one who chose the winners. For the record, I did ask Coca why none of the permalinks (Zoe, Simon, itechblog, Ginny) won. My actual reply was:

OMG! I thought the ones with permalinks have priority? The ones who posted a link back?

It turns out that the permalinks DO have priority. They get weighted more heavily than normal comments but Coca Restaurant is using random.org to be fair. Thus, out of the 54 comments, the permalinks are all ranked in the Top 10, but unfortunately, due to some catastrophic cosmic bad luck, none made it into the Top 3.

I will email all the 3 winners in a bit – please tell me if you’re not in Klang Valley so I can ask for permission to pass the vouchers to the permalinks (or the next in the list).

Otherwise, for the lucky three winners, here’s what you do:

1. Collect your vouchers from Coca Restaurant, 1 Utama from Friday (6th February 2009) onwards.
2. Just state your name (nick) and sixthseal.com to get the vouchers.
3. You need to collect it from Coca Restaurant within 2 weeks.
4. The vouchers are valid till 31st March 2009.
5. Make reservations with the Coca staff before you go.

Congratulations! :)

Contest: 3 pairs of Coca Steamboat Set Meal for two worth RM 150 each up for grabs!

Food 54 Responses »

Jan 182009

coca-contest

Coca is organizing an ang pow giveaway to three (3) lucky winners of sixthseal.com and you don’t even have to do anything! There are no hoops to jump through, no slogans to crack your brains on, and no pesky forms to fill up.

Just comment on this post and state what you think of Coca Restaurant. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter – constructive criticism is key. Just make sure your email address is valid coz winners will be chosen by the great random number generator known as random.org so you know this contest won’t be rigged in any way.

If you want to boost your chances of winning, write about this giveaway and link back to this post with the words “COCA GONG XI Giveaway“. It doesn’t even have to be a dedicated post, just a passing mention in the body of your post with the link and the phrase will do.

Just paste the link of the post and your name (with a valid email address) into the comment box and you stand to win:

coca-contest-entice

1 x Steamboat Set Meal for two (2) worth RM 150

There are three (3) of these to be given out and you have to collect the vouchers at Coca Restaurant, 1 Utama. However, you can opt to either dine at the outlet in 1U or Subang Parade.

The contest will run until the 21st of January 2009 and the vouchers are valid for one (1) month.

Good luck!

Gong Xi Fa Chai from sixthseal.com and Coca Restaurant!

The Making of the Nike Advertorial

The making of... 130 Responses »

Aug 092008

nike script

I received the Nike advertorial pretty late in the game (pun intended) and scripted out two major scenes that I wanted to be in the writeup. The first was to be shot at an athletic wear/sports gear shop/active lifestyle outlet (I don’t even know what these places are called nowadays anymore ;)) to do the visualization (Read: camwhoring) aspects of the design contest.

script

Due to the limited number of such outlets in Sibu carrying Nike products, I decided to go to Lea Sports Center at Wisma Sanyan since I distinctively remember them having a Nike showcase while I was…er, getting adidas trainers earlier this year. ;)

cast crew

Thus, I geared up in my Nike ACG (All Climate Gear) windbreaker that I got in KK back in 2004 before climbing up Mt. Kinabalu (the highest mountain in South East Asia) for a bit of product placement pimpage and went out with Clare to do the photo shoot after work.

script 1

It should be noted that my tracksuit trousers were actually adidas and so were my trainers. It doesn’t look very obvious though so I thought it would pass The All Seeing Eye of Nike. ;) I do have Nike apparel in my current wardrobe – I remember getting a limited edition Nike tennis shoe during the Melbourne Open 2003 and have several other pairs of Nike trainers.

nike sweatshirt

There’s also a Nike sweatshirt with a hoodie that I got for chilly spring weather in Melbourne which has found a new role as a tattoo concealer for Casual Saturdays in the office. The dress code in my office does not allow for visible tattoos so I wear long sleeves every single workday – even on Saturdays. Yes, we do work half day on Saturday over here in Sarawak.

nike swoosh

We then proceeded to eat dinner at Sushi Tie and got the waitress to camwhore with me. I liked the deer-caught-in-headlights expression on her face. I’m going to caption this “Fear the Nike Swoosh“. :)

script 2

I proceeded to Delta Mall to meet up with Mary who was going to do the second major scene for the advertorial. I got a a lot of stares from people due to my athletic gear – I looked like I just finished a particularly grueling training session, but I kinda liked the attention. Heh! You’ve got to be able to take the double takes and stares if you’re a blogger going all out.

clare mary

Anyway, the second bit called for a video shoot in which I was getting heckled by two people while running laps around the mall. I initially planned for Mary to be doing the heckling but she introduced me to this guy who was PERFECT for the role. This is the take with only Mary doing the heckling:

I preferred the one with both of them doing the heckling so that’s the one I submitted for the advertorial. Mary is great as usual with her excellent repertoire of expressions and I loved the guy coz he pulled off the correct intonation and derisive-yet-humorous gesture in a single take. The video calls for me to be doing slow laps (basically a simulated slow run) while two people calls out:
“You run like a girl” and
“My grandmother runs faster than you”

script 3

The duo had great localization which was not in the script with Mary going “You run like a girl lah” and the guy going “Hey, my grandmother runs faster than you, okay?” which I really liked.

However, the best scene in the advertorial is, IMHO, one that I did not anticipate or script out. I was having my nicotine fix after finishing the photo shoot when I saw a security guard outside the mall doing the same. I remember the shoplifting scene for the Oreo advertorial and decided it would be fun to include the same theme into this one.

guard

I got the security guard to grab me while I was attempting to run and he was kind enough to comply. This was the best ending for the writeup since I figured I could put in a quirky caption before the contest regulations. It ended up being “…and design a lightweight pair of trainers so I can outrun mall security next time“. :)

Deleted Scenes:

ready alt

Ready…

set

Set…

Go…

I had also planned a Ready, Set, Go series of photos (this is the original trio) with me doing all three poses but decided to include just one (the Ready pose) due to fears of an unintentional overdose of camwhorage. ;)

The exclusion was a really good decision in hindsight coz it seems so cheesy now. Heh!

Bonus Features:

jay chou

The girls convinced me to do a Jay Chou pose. I’m not even sure why I did that, since I don’t even listen to his music!

This was one of the fastest advertorials that I’ve ever done with all the shoots completed in a day from script to editing. It was fun to go with the flow and see what scenes came out that wasn’t planned out. Cheers to Mary and Clare for helping out on this one!

LG Scarlet - The Saga Continues

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! 15 Responses »

Aug 012008

scarlet

I’ve always wanted to do three things before I kicked the bucket – write a book, travel the world and direct a movie. I haven’t got the chance to do the first two but the last one is finally within my reach. I don’t even have to purchase a high quality video recorder, rent an expensive studio or deal with actors overdosing and dying on me before the voice overlay is done. ;)

Wardrobe malfunctions are minimized and temper tantrums avoided. It’s pure fun!

LG Scarlet is running an online contest where you get to direct your own video. The action sequences and adrenaline pumping music in the LG Scarlet video is amazing to work with. You can customize it by adding snap scenes and your own captions and it’s very user friendly.

The contest will be run for four (4) consecutive weeks and there will be a weekly prize for the Director that accumulates the most votes. There will also be a grand prize at the end of the contest.

If you’re not interested in being a Director, there is also a concurrent contest for being a Fan. The Fan wins by having the highest number of successful virals. A viral is defined as a vote garnered (gained in plain English – I just use garner coz the LG Scarlet movie reminds me of Alias) from that particular Fan’s video promo link.

I have tried to decipher that statement and it just means that you basically promote the video you like either via your blog or email and you get an extra vote for every registered user that votes for that particular video link. The more registered users you get, the higher your chances of winning.

There will be a weekly and grand prize for both Fans and Directors. The weekly prize is a Hi-Fi Micro FB163 for every week of the four week campaign and the grand prize is a 37″ LG Scarlet LCD TV!

direct

Now, you can finally be the director of a video without learning to use video editing software with more buttons and menu items than you can shake a stick at.

I’m registered under sixthseal.com as a Director and you can vote for my video at the LG Scarlet site. I’m planning a vote buying campaign where I pay RM 1 for every person that votes for me. Terms and conditions apply.

Terms and Conditions:
RM 1 will be sent via snail mail for every valid registered user who votes for me.
This vote buying campaign is only open to Malaysian residents.
Please send a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) with an RM 1 note in it for processing fees. ;)

All kidding aside, head on to the LG Scarlet website to register as either a Director or a Fan and participate in the contest. This is one of the most interesting Internet viral marketing strategies I’ve seen – my hats off to the people at LG.

Calling all armchair/office chair directors! Here’s your chance to Shine (reference intended). ;)

Watch my video here.

Make your own video today or be a fan and get a chance to win the LG Scarlet 37″ LCD TV now!

Older Entries Newer Entries

Hunt or be hunted!

Gimme a break...

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner/ The Flight of the Valkyries

Terminator Salvation Ticket Giveaway!

I won an LCD TV from Sony Style!

The need for speed

Coca Restaurant RM 150 contest winners

Contest: 3 pairs of Coca Steamboat Set Meal for two worth RM 150 each up for grabs!

The Making of the Nike Advertorial

LG Scarlet - The Saga Continues

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