Nuffnang – Page 3 – sixthseal.com

Santa can you hear me?

December 12, 2010 by HB

I have been so good this year. Well, maybe not, but with Christmas around the corner it’s time to write the letter to the good ol man up North and ask for the things that you want for Christmas!

1. A partridge in a pear tree

I’m totally serious. I would love to have a partridge in a pear tree. It would be remiss not to ask for this. How many people have actually gotten a partridge in a pear tree?

Patridge-by-John-Coulter

No? Well, there you go. 😉

2. Turducken

Christmas used to be all about turkeys. Well, not anymore. Turkey is so ’90s. The thing to have on your Christmas dinner table this year is the turducken. What exactly is a turducken?

Turducken

Well, put simply, it’s a chicken stuffed into a duck which is then stuffed into a turkey. Now how about that!

3. Travel the world and the seven seas

I love to travel and though I’ve been to Europe, Korea, China and several other SEA destinations this year, I would love to spend more time at each place…taking my time, going through every nook and cranny of the places I step foot on.

stonehenge

I’m particularly interested in doing the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which no self respecting traveller can call him/herself that until this ritual is complete. Starting at China and going all the way to Russia. I’ll send you a postcard from Russia (with love).

The Eurorail coming-of-age trail blazing is also something I’ll want to do – a pass to travel all around Europe at your own leisure. I’ll make Ireland my first stop, I’ve never been there and it’s home to St James Gate Brewery in Dublin, which produces the fine brew we call Guinness. 🙂

4. A new car

I’m not one for material possessions and love experiences more than anything. However, my old car has been through a lot of…er, vehicular mishaps and it seems like EVERYTHING is wrong with it. I probably should send it to a workshop but I fear that it would cost more to fix than to purchase a new one.

How I’m going to pay for the down payment and monthly instalments would require very creative budgeting but hey, since this is a wish list…

5. 5 gold rings

Seriously.

5_gold_rings

I’m so broke right now that 5 gold rings sounds (no pun intended) just about right.

6. A job as a travel writer

Somewhat related to the above, I know that the industry is hard to break in and not as glamorous as it sounds. It’s often a low paid job where you most likely have to top up the balance yourself and you spend a lot of time writing and compiling and doing good ol fashioned legwork. I even hear the Lonely Planet writers have to take a course in self defence before they even get sent out.

bath

However, despite all that it’s something I would love to do. It’s not about the money, it’s about setting your own hours and doing what you like.

7. A new digicam

I have a dSLR and a compact digicam and I tend to use the latter more since it’s shockproof and waterproof, two important qualities when I bring it on my vacations. However, all the trips and travels and misadventures has given it a good beating and I wouldn’t mind getting another one for Christmas. 🙂

8. Get to see my family more

I must admit, with my family scattered around, it’s hard to have the traditional annual family vacations that my father set a precedent for ever since I was a kid. My sister is married with a baby daughter in New Zealand with my mom and my dad is in Sarawak while I’m working here.

family

Blood runs thicker than water after all. The warmth of having family and giving and receiving support is, pardon the cliché, invaluable.

My dad and I used drink together and my mom has been known to have a pint or two herself. She actually can drink the two of us under the table if she sets her mind on doing it. Heh! It’ll be good to have a family get-together where we can just sit around the living room, nursing a pint of Guinness.

9. A notebook

No, not the ones made from trees, I have come to the conclusion that while having a 17” widescreen notebook is great when you’re at home, lugging all of it in its 2.7 kg glory while travelling is decidedly not.

One thing on my wish list would be for a small and compact notebook where I can write, access the net and run Photoshop while travelling.

10. Get another tattoo

I’ve always wanted to get another tattoo – I even know what I want it to be but I’ve put it off for years, going for piercings instead. I don’t know why I’m procrastinating on this since it’s not on public skin e.g. visible so it’s not a work related issue.

tattoo

I want a full color piece on my left leg, starting from the ankle up to the knee. It would be a rotting female corpse hand reaching up from the grave and gripping me, raking her fingernails and drawing blood down as a reminder. I guess the subject of the reminder is personal since I’ve subconsciously put it off for so long but I want to get it done soon.

11. More personal time

I would love to have more personal time for me to do the things I like. I love reading and have recently completed the Millennium trilogy – a series of novels which centres on Lisabeth Salander, a rather unique and likable character whom I can relate to.

books

I tend to be a voracious reader but I never stray far from my favourite genres – I picked this out on a whim and I’m glad I did. It’s a good read and I aim to do more reading – preferably not just on the porcelain throne. 😉

12. A Christmas dinner with friends

Since my family won’t be together during Christmas, I’ll love to have a nice Christmas dinner with friends complete with several pints of Guinness. Christmas is all about sharing, gift exchanging, letting them know how much they mean in your life and nothing beats a good dinner recounting with your closest friends – sharing stories, spending quality time (which all of us lack with work and everything) and just being together with good food and drink.

guinness girl

On the same note, Guinness is having some consumer promos on their Facebook so it’ll be a great place to find an outlet to have pre-Christmas and Christmas events where you can celebrate the festive season. Surf over to Guinness Malaysia Facebook for more details.

You’ll also get a gift all month long, courtesy of Guinness when you buy 6 pints of Guinness Draught or 1 bucket of Guinness Stout – a heritage collection glass with old Guinness ads! =D

There is also going to be games (Merry Mat anyone?) and surprises at selected outlets starting from 17:59 (the year Guinness was founded). That’s one minute before 6 pm.

guinness

Well, since I’m not going home for Christmas this year, I figured I’ll grab 4 of you and we’ll throw our own mini-Christmas bash instead! I’ve arranged for a cosy dinner for the 5 of us at Backyard in Hartamas, KL on the 22nd December at 7:30 pm.

I’ll select 4 of the most creative answers we’ll all have a great time this Christmas! Don’t worry about drinks and food, it’ll be on me! It’ll be fun, just comment here and and tell me “What you want for your Merry Guinness” this year. Make yourself available on that date and we’ll have an awesome time! My treat. 🙂

‘Tis the season to be jolly

December 10, 2010 by HB

purple_christmas_tree

It’s that time of the year again! The time where shopping malls are decked out with Christmas decorations and refrains of Hark the Herald Angels Sing echo through the centralized speakers. My friend Mel dropped by KL this weekend and we decided to have dinner at Finnegan’s.

feast

I bumped into Jolene there who sagely commented that I always seem to have a beer in my hand whenever she sees me. Heh! It’s true, I’ve grown quite fond of Kilkenny lately and they have a RM 50 for 3 pints promotion going on in some outlets.

kilkenny tap

Dubbed the Cream of Irish Beers, Kilkenny has an interesting history – it didn’t originate from a traditional brewery but from the holy cellars (I presume) of St. Francis Abbey in the 14th century. Put simply, it was Franciscan monks who started making this particular beer.

Interesting, eh?

kilkenny

Kilkenny is an Irish cream ale that’s smooth and rich – qualities which I rate highly. I’m a huge fan full bodied beers and stouts. It’s perfect for the festive season, although we don’t get very cold weather over here.

sandwiches

We shared a stew, open sandwiches, and a pork knuckle which nearly killed us (too much food for two people). I guess overeating is also part of the festive ritual.

pork knuckle

Kilkenny promotions are available at selected outlets throughout the country. I’m going to try my hand at “Cooking with Kilkenny” (has a nice ring to it, eh?) next! I plan to use Kilkenny in a recipe to see how it goes.

Find out more about Kilkenny here. I have a feeling this beer is going to be big in the coming years! You can get it at most Irish pubs (Finnegan’s, Delaney’s, Malone’s) and it’s also available at on tap in WIP, Sid’s, Royal Oak, Bulldog, Laundry and Jarrod and Rawlins. Here’s to more festive seasons with Kilkenny!

dinner

Fa la la la la, la la, la la!

Wardrobe woes

November 22, 2010 by HB

shopping

The people who know me personally always give me a lot of grief about my wardrobe, or rather, the lack thereof. I keep turning up in the same outfits every single time. It’s not that I have a drought in the attire department, but rather I have a few favorite shirts that I keep on wearing.

This is compounded by the fact that I am an impulsive shopper. Worse still, I am an impulsive shopper who tends to get the urge to shop at totally random moments (usually twice a year) and comes back with a shitload of clothes, most of which I wouldn’t wear (see favorite shirts above).

sale

I don’t go during sales or the usual periods people shop – I go when I feel like it. This is generally detrimental to my financial wellbeing as I shop on credit so when the credit card statement comes at the end of the month, my reactions range from being slightly taken aback to downright horror.

I have several credit cards but no debit card so when I saw Alliance Bank’s Debit Mastercard I decided to take it for a spin. I had an urge to shop and decided that a debit card would be a better one to use during my retail forays.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, I do actually shop for clothes – else, where would all my shirts come from? smirk

I set RM 750 as my daily spending limit – no more RM 5,000+ credit card bills (happened to me a couple of times). I hit the shopping malls and got the stuff that I really need. I decided that this time I’m going to buy items that I will wear regularly instead of one off items like the RM 575 jacket I got two months ago which I’ve only worn once.

Quiksilver board shorts

board shorts

This is one item I don’t have in my wardrobe. I have Speedos and Bermuda shorts but nothing even resembling board shorts. Why would a 29 year old who doesn’t surf need board shorts? Well, it’s perfect as beach wear! I had a string of beach vacations planned and I thought this would be a good investment.

buy board shorts

Price: RM 269

DC skate shoes

Yes, I know I’m not a 16 year old skater boi anymore but can’t a man revisit the prime of his life? :p

old shoes

Besides, I haven’t bought a pair of shoes in ages, I’m still wearing almost 2 year old adidas tennis shoes. I figure it’s time to change the tatty pair of smelly shoes for some new ones.

dc shoes

DC shoes is not a brand I would choose to buy but one of my ex-girlfriends really loved the brand and bought a pair of them back from Australia for me. I spotted the DC footwear line and decided to get a pair – it’s useful for weekends and it’s also a pair of sneakers so it’s quite comfortable to wear.

Mark and Spencer vests

mark and spencer

This is an essential item in all men’s wardrobes. I didn’t know that until a recent image consultancy that I went for. I’ve never had the habit of wearing singlets or anything like that under my shirts.

cotton vest

To be perfectly honest, I think that practice is incredibly old fashioned and slightly repulsive as only octogenarians (like my late granddad) do that so he can wear his shirts more often without the need to wash it.

vest

However, during my image consultancy, I was told that wearing a vest under your work shirt actually bulks you up and makes you look buff and more authoritative. I’m all for that so I grabbed a couple to wear when I go to work. smirk

It’s RM 79 for 3 x 100% cotton vests so it’s a pretty good investment.

I spent less than RM 750 that day which is really good. That’s the benefit debit cards give you – you don’t spend on credit, you only spend what you have. Even better, I set RM 750 as the daily spending limit and the transaction bounced during the Mark and Spencer purchase so I took a pack of vests out. Nifty, eh?

alliance debit card

I’m using the Alliance Bank Standard Debit Card under HYBRID savings and the best thing about this card is that you get instant 1% cash back on all your purchases. It goes up to 2% cash back for the Premium version. I also really liked the financial control the card affords you. You can set a daily spending limit like what I did so you won’t go over a pre-planned amount that you’re willing to spend.

With more than 1.4 million ATMs around Malaysia, you won’t have any trouble changing your spending limit too! Find out more at my.alliancedebitcard.com.

sixthseal.com is migrating!

October 27, 2010 by HB

I’ll be migrating the site to WordPress at the end of this month. I’ve stayed with Movable Type for a long time coz it was the first CMS that came out specifically for blogging. I had a HTML manually updated blog before this coz I started in 2002.

However, MT has a higher server load and a lot of security vulnerabilities. The dry run on castitas.com (no it’s not the old castitas :p) seems to be working well without any broken links so I’m going to just go ahead and do it instead of waiting for a design.

I’m sure a lot of you have experienced problems with commenting and load time and I apologize for that. This will be fixed during the migration to WordPress.

Anyway, in unrelated technical news…

Sponsored Post:

The new Peugeot 207 looks mighty interesting. It has a lot of features that is usually the domain of high end cars which you have to pay through the nose for. The 207 has auto wipers and auto headlights as standard with climate control (no more old fashioned air conditioning dials). It also has a USB port and Bluetooth for your music needs. The Bluetooth can even pair with your phone to answer calls!

Peugeot is not a huge name in Malaysia but the car looks damn awesome in this video clip. There’s the sporty styling, dynamic looks and excellent suspension. Check out how they drift. I reckon they have pretty comfortable seats as well since I’ve been to a drifting class before and it’s not as easy as it looks. There are 2 airbags and Tiptronic shift where you can opt for manual control over the auto car when you want a more exhilarating experience.

Peugeot-207

All this in a sub 100k car – it even has front and back fog lights! The new 1.6 liter Peugeot 207 – a Peugeot for everyone!

Pizza Hut Extreme Cheesy 6 Pizza

October 22, 2010 by HB

cheesie

Cheese – milk’s leap towards immortality – Clifton Fadiman

pizza hut extreme cheesy 6

A lot of people consider cheese to be an American invention due to the mass proliferation of heavily proceeded cheddar cheese slices. Others think cheese is of French origin coz they produce a lot of gourmet cheeses. However, the truth is cheese was discovered much longer than that. Think BC. Cheese was probably first made way before 2,000 BC.

pizza hut pbd

I love cheese. I used to be able to whip up a quick breakfast in minutes…with cheese of course. However, I just don’t have the time to cook right now so I jumped at the chance when Pizza Hut invited me to taste their new Extreme Cheesy 6 Pizza at Pusat Bandar Damansara last Friday. I love how they always come out with new pizzas – I was at their Fish King Pizza launch a couple of months back too.

me wei zhi

The Extreme Cheesy 6 as exactly six types of cheeses in their pizza. It goes well with my blog URL.

The cheeses in question are:

say cheese

Cheddar
Classic delicate taste
Mozzarella
Creamy and soft
Parmesan
Flavorful and savory
Monterey Jack
Zesty and nutty
Provolone
Full-bodied and slightly tart
Romano
Hearty taste

pizza hut gm marketing

We watched the TVC after a short talk by Mr Law, the GM of Marketing.

aud tim nick

The Extreme Cheesy 6 Pizza can be ordered just like that (with cheese) or with your favorite topping. You can choose from Cheesy Hawaiian, Cheesy Pepperoni or Cheesy Chicken but my favorite was the pure cheese pizza.

pizza hut extreme cheesy 6 pizza hawaiian

I tried all four variants, which considerably tested my stomach capacity. They each have their own strengths; it’s just what type of topping you prefer.

pizza hut extreme cheesy 6 pizza pepperoni

Pizza Hut was too generous with their food – side orders of chicken wings…

chicken wings

…and pasta

pasta

…magically appeared and by the end of the session, I was totally stuffed, in a good way. =D

pizza hut extreme cheesy 6 pizza chicken

The Extreme Cheesy 6 Pizza retails for RM 21 (Regular) and RM 28.90 (Large). Toppings are available for RM 2 (Regular) and RM 3 (Large).

balloons

Sara Khoo! <3

sara khoo

She eats with a fork and spoon, which totally violates the dining etiquette of eating pizza. It’s heresy! Pizza is meant to be eaten with your hands!

power of cheese

There’s also a contest for all you bloggers out there. The Extreme Cheesy 6 Pizza Contest runs until 16 November and is open to all Nuffnang bloggers. Just write a creative and interesting post with the theme “Why You Love Pizza Hut’s 6 Cheese Extreme Pizza” and take lots of photos with the pizzas. You’ll also need to name all the cheeses (refer to above ;)) and end the blog post with “I’m crazy about Cheeeeeese!“.

6-Cheese-Poster

There’s exactly 6 (six, enam, liu) e’s in that last line. The top 5 winners get RM 2,000 cash which is pretty good so it might be time to get cracking. 🙂

thumbdrive

As usual, the hospitality from Pizza Hut was awesome! We all got thumb drives, notebooks and a voucher to dine with 6 (how apt) people for free! Thanks to Mr Low Kang Moon and Nor Aziani Azizan for having us! 🙂

group

It was a cheesy-licious dinner!

Don’t hate the playa, hate the game

October 15, 2010 by HB

playa

I like to think of myself as a bit of a playa with the number of notches on my belt for my various conquests. It has come to the point that I can’t even remember how many people of the fairer sex I’ve done the horizontal boogie with.

jestina goon

However, one very special girl totally eluded me. This is Jestina and I’m not going after her for shits and giggles, I meant for it to be a meaningful relationship, which would hopefully culminate in holy matrimony. It took me over a year of effort, which ultimately proved to be futile.

I remember taking half day leave in my previous company just because she mentioned she was craving for a green tea latte. I went all the way down from SS6 to Berjaya Times Square to get her one from Starbucks. I didn’t have GPS back then so I took the LRT so I wouldn’t get lost and end up handing her cold latte. >.<

taken by yuen yee

I think the problem with me is that I have approached the entire enterprise the wrong way from the start. I am used to playa moves and for this one I went the romantic route, which didn’t work very well. I have a very high batting average a.k.a. success rate when I’m in playa mode but I didn’t want to play her. Thus, I might have come across as too desperate.

BTW, in case you didn’t know, girls can smell desperation from a mile (or two) away. (!!!)

Anyway, still being friends, I decided to give it the good ol’ college try for one last time. We went out for lunch and dinner and hung out together. The last date was the most memorable one coz we were just sitting on the floor in MPH side by side, reading this huge dual volume compilation of creative advertisements and laughing and sharing together.

me jestina mph

That was a very nice memory that I’ll keep forever.

sushi

Jestina is a very nice girl. She tries to make time for me even though I kinda knew deep inside that she wasn’t interested in me romantically. I just had a heart to heart with her after our date last weekend and she told me that she can’t see me as anything except a friend.

It took a lot of time and part of me was glad that she told me the truth at last.

dinner

I was out drinking last night and one of my friends asked me a question that was so obvious it would be the size of the Great Pyramids of Giza if I was not blinded by love:

Has she ever initiated conversation with you?

The answer is no! I have always been the one to call, text and MSN her. I knew it, and I willfully ignored it. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. >.<

Playa FAIL!

Thus, it’s time to move on and get my playa’ mojo back. Can’t be moping around when you’re in the prime of your life.

Incidentally, there’s a sexy party going on at Movida in Sunway Giza called Playa’. It’s on the 20th October and starts from 10 pm – 12 am. I reckon this would be the best time to socialize with the opposite sex over cocktails. There will be 4 different signature Encore cocktails at the event.

Horeca-Player-Poster

You can also create your very own cocktail with their Mixologists and experience how to shake, stir, mix and pour a proper cocktail. Join the Encore Facebook page to get the latest about their parties.

I have 20 drink vouchers to give out so if you want them, just drop a comment and say “I’m a player for life and I’m going to Playa’” and the first 10 will get a pair each.

Make sure all of you who commented turn up to cheer me up.

Dun be a FKK queen like Jestina. :p

Everyone needs protection

October 11, 2010 by HB

trend micro event

Protection is very important if you like to mess around.

trend micro launch

I’m talking about a different kind of protection though. I went to the Trend Micro TITANIUM Internet Security 2011 launch a while ago and got the lowdown on how it works. I’m no stranger to technology, I graduated in Computer Science (don’t ask me why I’m in my current line now – long story) and the product had some very interesting features.

Before I go into the details, lemme just go through the awesome start of the event! The lights were dimmed and this dance troupe came on stage to perform a routine involving a lot of fabric waving.

launch

The official launch kicked off after that and Trend Micro came on stage to explain how their TITANIUM suite works.

speach

It’s actually very interesting for two major reasons:

1. It doesn’t require the virus/malware/Trojan horse signature files to be downloaded – it’s stopped at their server level using cloud computing – a good thing considering there’s 1.5 threats per second
2. It takes up very little processing power – gone are the days when you have to disable your anti-virus before playing games

Also, it has a very nifty feature for all you Edison Chen wannabes – it securely deletes files according to US government standards. Useful, eh? 😉

first dish

Lunch was served after that and it was a good spread which includes everything from starters…

soup

…to soup

fish

…and the quintessential fish!

prawns

I was stuffed by the time the prawns came.

umbrella

There was no shortage of entertainment either – besides the lucky draw, there was a game where random items ranging from 4D stubs to a strand of hair was required and I am proud to report that our table won! We all got a Trend Micro umbrella which was rather useful the day after when I went to a client’s place and it was raining cats and dogs.

The dance troupe also went on stage periodically to do choreographed numbers.

The funniest game of the launch has gotta be this Girls vs Guys contest where they attempted to stack up the boxes of Trend Micro TITANIUM to the maximum possible height. The guys looks like they were winning but in the end the girls copied their technique with more finesse – they turned the box vertically instead of horizontally to achieve a greater height.

stacking game

There was a lucky draw at the end where you get to win a smartphone too but alas, I was not one of the lucky ones.

dance

However, it was an awesome event and Trend Micro was kind enough to furnish us with mooncakes, a jacket and a 3 license copy of Trend Micro TITANIUM Maximum Security when we went back.

I’ve tried out the product on my personal notebook and while I don’t need the parental controls (heck, at my age I’m supposed to be a parent) but the data theft prevention and web threat preventions works very well. I can even play Starcraft II (my current personal benchmark) while it’s scanning in the background.

trend micro girls

It’s amazing how security software has grown by leaps and bounds since the last time I’ve bothered to install one. I think the best feature of Trend Micro TITANIUM Maximum Security for me is their validation of WiFi hotspots since I use my computer at all sorts of places.

You can’t go wrong if you shield your (USB) dong(gle).

My experience with the iPhone 4

October 8, 2010 by HB

iphone 4 box

I’ll give you a bit of history about myself. I’m an early adopter – my first PDA was a Palm m505 back in 2001 and I’ve used Pocket PCs, Blackberry and Windows Mobile smartphone but never one with an Apple OS.

iphone 4 front

I was determined to let the iPhone 4 be my first induction into the world of Apple and all that it has to offer so during the Maxis iPhone 4 launch, I got one and tested it out.

microsim

The iPhone 4 uses a microSIM, which is a bit of a hassle considering I have two Maxis devices. I switched to a microSIM for the review and used a microSIM adapter but in the long run I think I’ll get another SIM from Maxis.

cutting sim

I saw someone getting his Hotlink SIM card cut into a microSIM at the Maxis Center. You can probably do it yourself but Maxis has the proper tool to get it down to size.

That’s one option if you don’t want to go for a microSIM swap.

itunes

The first thing I did when I got everything up and running is to download iTunes and do an upgrade to iOS 4.1. It has a whole host of features ranging from a new HDR photography setting to video uploads straight to YouTube. I was surprised at the ease of a core upgrade – it’s just a click away. This review is done using an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.1.

maxis center

Anyway, I have heard much about the HD video recording and camera capabilities of the iPhone 4 and it didn’t let me down. You can tap the screen to focus when taking photos and videos.

Here’s a video taken using the iPhone 4:

I like the crisp video recording and the easy to use camera (which boasts 5 MP with LED flash). It’s also easy to use and great for the times when you don’t want to lug out another digicam. All the photos in this post are taken using the iPhone 4 except for screengrabs and the ones which features the iPhone 4 in it (obviously).

os4

There is also a geotagging feature which is very nifty for us but I imagine it’s not something members of Al-Qaeda would appreciate very much.

You can opt to turn it off though.

sixthseal

The iPhone 4 also has Retina Display which truly showcases the high resolution 3.5″ screen. It’s not just anti-aliasing but a true testimony to the rich and crisp display. You can zoom in to photos, games and eBooks and everything will still look awesome!

ebook

I don’t need it that much considering I’m not lacking in eyesight but it’s a useful feature to have when someone sends you a photo in an email with a high resolution photo of their friend and you want to…er, take a closer look, shall we say, at her features. 😉

wifi

The other feature I really liked which is lacking in all the other smartphones I’ve used is the auto WiFi detect feature.

facetime

The application that impressed me the most is FaceTime. I would even go so far as to call it the “killer app” of the iPhone 4. You know how the Blackberry has BBM? Well, this is like a souped up BBM that goes way beyond text and into the realm of real time video calls!

facetime with aud

FaceTime only requires WiFi to work so you won’t have to go on roaming when you’re out of the country (unlike BBM). If you’re travelling and you have a work related call or just want to show your friends the place you’re at, use FaceTime! It’s free!

The iPhone 4 has two cameras like most video call enabled smartphones. However, what differentiates FaceTime is that you can instantly switch from the front camera to the back one with a tap of the screen to show the person you’re calling where you are. It sounds like a no brainer but it totally blew me away!

ibooks

I’m a newbie to the iPhone as I mentioned and what (pleasantly) surprised me is the ease of which you can purchase applications and books. There is no need to muck around and sync stuff or manually enter your payment details. Your credit card details are stored securely via iTunes and you can just tap and purchase on your iPhone 4!

I know this sounds kinda jakun but hey, it’s my first iPhone okay! :p

It is also rather dangerous for me since I’m quite the impulsive shopper. I just tap and buy and the next thing I know I’ve got more apps than I need and a morbid fear of my credit card statement.

essentials

However, most of the essential applications are free so just grab those and you’ll be ready to go! Twitter, Facebook, foursquare, Messenger and more is just a quick download away so you’ll be able to communicate with your friends whenever, wherever.

I like how some of the applications have more features on the iPhone 4 compared to other smartphones.

youtube

YouTube works very well on the iPhone 4 due to the high resolution screen and I didn’t have any of the so called antenna issues while making calls so it’s all good to me!

angry birds

I love the games they have on the iPhone 4 too! =D

iphone photo

It is a device that looks good (hey, it’s an important factor for some people). The sleek and slim design is aesthetically pleasing and you’ll be tempted to put your iPhone 4 on the table just to get admiring stares from people. *

* Not recommended in KL due to our sizable community of snatch thieves

iphone 4 back

The iPhone 4 is the epitome of Apple’s philosophy – a user friendly phone that packs a lot of technological features bundled into a sleek and sexy device. I’ve been using it since I got it at the Maxis launch and I’m lovin’ it! 🙂

Oktoberfest in Malaysia

October 6, 2010 by HB

oktoberfest arch

O’ zapft is!

oktoberfest band

The legendary festival in Munich, which is a celebration of the amber fluid in Bavaria, Germany is originally not about beer at all. The first Oktoberfest was a sombre (I think la, I wasn’t there since I wasn’t born yet) affair to commemorate the union of two royalty whose names are now relegated to the annals of Wikipedia (and historians).

However, it soon grew to become the beer festival we all know and love today! =D

oktoberfest tattoo

Oktoberfest was relatively obscure except to the ones who had more exposure but in recent years it has come to Malaysia and in a big way too!

It is not just about beer (although that is a main and important part of Oktoberfest) but the celebration of life! It has been a custom that Oktoberfest starts with a 12 gun salute and the tapping of the first beer keg to be presented to the Mayor.

oktoberfest us

Oktoberfest is all about entertainment, beer and more beer and I’m glad to see that happen in Malaysia now (so I don’t have to travel all the way to Germany to experience it).

I went to Souled Out for the first Oktoberfest celebration by GAB in Malaysia and it is a celebration that I’m proud to be part of – faithful to the Oktoberfest experience in Munich.

The best thing about Oktoberfest in Malaysia is that they have Paulaner! =D

oktoberfest paulaner

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 6 years, Paulaner is the #1 German wheat beer in Malaysia and it’s all imported in all the way from…MUNICH!

Yes, the birthplace of Oktoberfest! It’s also one of the official beers of Oktoberfest.

oktoberfest german food

I’ve had Paulaner a number of times during Oktoberfest and the best part about it is the taste. If you’re a beer connoisseur, you’ll appreciate this brew – it’s not meant for the mainstream drinkers, but the more premium and discerning consumers.

oktoberfest food

The Oktoberfest event that I went to also had Munich inspired food which is always a good thing. Gotta line your stomach lest you become a bierleichen. There were sausages, pretzels and German food on offer – perfect to recreate the Oktoberfest experience.

I’m glad I managed to drink a real Munich produced beer during Oktoberfest in Malaysia.

oktoberfest jestina

Paulaner is an ale so if you’re a common Joe lager drinking person, it’s an acquired taste. I love ales since I’ve been studying abroad since I was 15 so I can appreciate a good one. Beer aficionados take note, Paulaner is going to be the next big thing!

oktoberfest girls

That’s the highest accolade I give to a beer. 🙂