Project 365 2011 - Photo #212

It's a cute light brown bear wearing a mini red HTC hooded shirt.

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Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) is a superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics.

Synopsis: 1942, World War II. A skinny and frail but strong-willed Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is rejected five times in a row for military service. He's given a chance by Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a scientist who recruits him for a "super-soldier" experiment.

Proving his extraordinary courage and selflessness, Rogers undergoes the experiment and emerges from the experiment chamber tall and muscular. Within a few minutes, Dr. Erskine is assassinated by an undercover HYDRA agent. HYDRA is the Nazi's secret research department headed by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) who later becomes Red Skull.

With Dr. Erskine's death, the super-soldier project is shelved and Rogers is being utilized as a war propaganda mascot. Then, the time comes when Rogers sets out on a perilous journey to save his comrades and wars against HYDRA that truly makes him Captain America.

This is indeed an entertaining superhero movie with all the necessary feel-good elements, such as a handsome, buff, and courageous superhero, patriotism during war time, a woman falling in love with the superhero, the superhero saves the world, and finally, the superhero "dies" in action. The special effects are pretty impressive, especially the effects that make Chris Evans looks like a malnourished, sickly youngster.

By the way, do stay back until the end of the credits. You'll be shown a short clip from The Avengers - another superhero movie from Marvel that brings together Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #211

That's it! Finally, I signed up with Fitness First at Damansara Uptown. This is the BODYFIRST pack given to new membership signups.

There are three books in the pack - BodyGuide (what you do with your body - exercises, machines, etc); BodyFuel (what you feed your body - healthy recipes); and BodyJournal (how you plan your workout - keep and track workout progress).

So, within the next 12 months, I'll become a healthier and fitter me! Yay!

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #210

Here are some work-wear tips from the Female magazine, July 2011 issue:

- Cropped pants are perfect for creating a smart, streamlined finish. Choose one that hugs your body for a fuss-free, serious look.

- Pair boldly-colored pants with a serious shirt and throw a neutral blazer over to offset the contrast. Frame your outfit with equally solid shoes and bags, and choose a minimalistic accessory to stand out from an otherwise boring look.

- Printed chiffon blouses instantly lend an interesting touch to a strong, solid look. Tuck it into your pants for a more refined look, and finish with a belt to accentuate your hips.

- Luxe materials such as viscose and satin are great starters to achieving a polished, elegant look anytime.

- Work loud, fun-colored pants by looking for strong, structured shirts and blazers; complement the look with soft, neutral accessories to finish.

- Offset a strong color-block outfit with accessories in earthy tones. When paired with nude hues, let your outfit be the center of attention. For a smarter look, button up the collars and finish with a dark waist belt.

- Apart from soft, solid colors, lightweight fabrics also help tone down the sharpness of colored pants. Use a white shirt or jacket to balance up the colors in your look. For a little twist, pair it with a pastel-colored shirt and finish with a belt to define your waist.

- Do pair your pants with structured, solid neutrals; it's the safest way to add seriousness to an otherwise playful look.

- Don't try a multi-colored look for your get-up. Leave that for a weekend occasion instead.

Check out more workwear tips from the June 2011 issue.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #209

Check out the latest DiGi Comic Strip contest on Facebook that gives away 30 Follow Me hampers. All you have to do is visit the app, take a look at the comic strip, and submit your very own ending to the strip. Contest ends 5 August 2011.

Join Now!

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Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 & 2 (2010-2011)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 & 2

Everyone knows Harry Potter, so I won't explain much about the storyline. I haven't read the novels and I've only watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second of seven Harry Potter movies. I consider the Deathly Hallows as one movie.

In a nutshell, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1 & 2) is the final movie of the Harry Potter movie series. The story follows Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a quest of fulfilling Dumbledore's request by finding and destroying Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, the magical items contributing to the Dark Lord's immortality. Only by destroying the Horcruxes could the Dark Lord be defeated.

Part 2 garners mostly positive comments from the audience, of which I agree. After all these years, this is indeed the best installment of the Harry Potter series. However, I'm quite surprised that both the Part 1 and 2 movies are very dark, gloomy, and foreboding, not exactly suitable for young children. I guess the nature of the story has to get darker as the characters grow up. You can expect all sort of things related to darkness, death, and sorrow.

Since I haven't read any of the novels, I'm delighted to learn new things about the franchise's magical creatures, characters, and objects.

Here are some of my favorites pointers, especially those related to Severus Snape, my favorite character:

• Harry named his second son Albus Severus, after Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. He said, "You were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them [Snape] was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."


• J.K. Rowling when asked if she considers Snape a hero, replied: "Yes, I do; though a very flawed hero. An anti-hero, perhaps. He is not a particularly likeable man in many ways. He remains rather cruel, a bully, riddled with bitterness and insecurity - and yet he loved, and showed loyalty to that love and, ultimately, laid down his life because of it. That's pretty heroic!"


• Snape is voted #1 character by fans: "Snape's fate, more than Voldemort's, perhaps more even than Harry's, is the most heartbreaking, surprising, and satisfying of all of Rowling's achievements."


• I really like this article - 50 Greatest Harry Potter Characters: Severus Snape.

It all ends, but it all ends good.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #208

R7-Z0 and R7-T1 are our 41st and 42nd astromech droids. Take a look at our collection on my Facebook album. Original photo from here. :)

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Movie: Wu Xia (2011)

Wu Xia (2011) is a Hong Kong and China martial arts movie directed by renowned Hong Kong director Peter Ho-sun Chan and Donnie Yen as the movie's leading actor and action director.

Synopsis adapted from here: Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) has settled in an idyllic, hospitable village in Yunnan for ten years after marrying single mother Ayu (Tang Wei). The peaceful life of his family of four is disturbed when he accidentally kills two robbers who threaten his paper workshop. The incident has detective Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) sniffing in his backyard. Xu found out that Liu's real identity is Tang Long, a runaway member of the 72 Demons, a dwindling clan of Tanguts (former rulers of China's neighboring Xixia kingdom) for whom rape, pillage and massacre are a way of life.

Here are my point of view about the winning elements of this movie:

1. Heart-pounding action choreography: Donnie Yen is the movie's action director, so you can expect awesome action sequences. You'll be in awe with close-contact combats - they're shot in slow-mo graphical style, thus enhancing the intensity and brutality of each single blow that aims to either stun, maim or kill.

2. Unusual storyline: I really love the way the story is presented. In order to find out how Liu Jin-xi, an ordinary countryman could defeat two dangerous criminals, county detective Xu Bai-jiu conducts different methods of investigation, including exploring his knowledge in forensic science, physics, acupuncture, and martial arts principles. It's like attending biology classes again!

3. Interesting characters: Essentially, it's Liu Jin-xi versus Xu Bai-jiu. The former is an ex-convict turning over a new leaf. The latter is an upright county detective, he's my favorite character in this movie. Xu's investigation becomes a personal moral and intellectual quest and he's constantly in an emotional dilemma - should he uphold the law without compromise or should he give in to redemption and compassion? He has his own past demons to face and somehow we can empathize with his predicament.

4. Special appearances of legendary action star: Jimmy Wang Yu appears as the brutal and fearsome Master of 72 Demons and Kara Hui as a fierce female member of the clan.

5. Breathtaking cinematography: The luscious green of bamboo bushes, the glowing yellow of gentle hill slopes, the angry falls of waterfall, the serenity of still waters, etc - everything in the ethnically-rich Yunnan province - are all portrayed in such intensity that your feelings will either soar and drop with each scenery.

Verdict: Highly recommended for all Donnie Yen fans and non-fans alike. :)

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #207

Many many moons ago, I want to write for magazines, or at least an article written by myself will be published in some form or another. This dream hasn't materialized till now. Due to insufficient aspiration, it seems that the dream to see my name appears in magazines is fading... So, I stick to blogging.

Well, anyway, David's article about Honda Insight has been published. More details on this post. :)

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Honda Insight Article on CARS.MY (July - August 2011)

This is David's article in the "Test Drives" section on CARS.MY, July - August 2011 issue. Honda Insight is the car. :)

Title: Penny Wise, Pound Wiser

Sub-headers and summary:

• Power of Dreams - Rest assured, the Honda Insight is in no way underpowered.
  
• Integrated Motor Assist - It is this very system that currently gives the Honda Insight its excellent fuel economy and power.
  
• Outlying Impressions - It has poise, big wheels, attractive eyes and some would even say a perky rear-end.
  
• Internal Aesthetics - What anyone would find most interesting is the Insight's Guidance Function. It commends you when you drive economically, and berates you when you are doing Mother Nature no favors.
  
• Driving Impressions - Fuel consumption and you may have guessed is par excellence. We managed to clock 21 kilometers per liter when we drove it up north on the North-South Highway and when we did a combined urban and highway driving stint we still clocked over 18 kilometers per liter.
  
• Conclusion - It has a good price point; it's big enough for most, looks modern and doesn't burn a hole in your pocket or the environment.
  

Get a copy now and flip to pages 20-25 to read the full article.

******************************

You may also watch his video on AutoTVmy's YouTube channel:

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #206

Woohoo! I'm so ecstatic upon receiving the success screen (attached photo), followed by a confirmation email from @LowyatNET after I successfully submitted my entry form on their Captain America tickets giveaway microsite!

"Congratulations! You have redeemed two tickets for the Lowyat.NET Captain America screening on Thursday 28th July 2011 at GSC Midvalley. Your confirmation number is XXXXX. Please bring this number as well as your username to collect your tickets on the screening date."

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #205

The first session of the Catholic Marriage Preparation Course (CMPC) starts on 24 July 2011.

A few key points:
- The first topic is Marriage Today.
- The main purpose of this course is to let us discover one another.
- The key thing is to be honest when we answer the questions on the couple pak.
- We've homework to be done because we still have three sets of questions to be answered throughout the week before the second session this Sunday.
- One thing that strikes me deep is that love itself is a feeling and feeling changes but to love someone is a decision.

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Movie: A Sound of Thunder (2005)

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken.

A Sound of Thunder (2005) is a sci-fi movie focusing on the matter of time travel and disastrous chain reaction that alters the history of evolution.

Synopsis: In 2055, Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley) has made a fortune by founding 'Time Safari', which offers rich 'big game hunters' short-time travels to kill off dinosaurs just before their natural death.

When Dr. Travis Ryer (Edward Burns) notices the weather and wildlife are not behaving as usual, he consults Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), the contractually invisible inventor of the supercomputer Tami which controls the time travel system. They soon face 'time waves', each worsening the effects in 2055 of evolutionary distortions, lower lifeforms first. They attempt to identify and rectify the past alteration, but each attempt gets harder in their distorted present.

The storyline sounds very interesting and promising. Unfortunately, the special effects are unbelievably poor and fake for a sci-fi movie! The moment the first special effects are shown on the screen, I know this movie is doomed. To make matters worse, lifeless and unreal performance from the cast doesn't do the movie much justice. Ben Kingsley is good but he alone couldn't save the entire production. That's quite sad.

Well, according to Wikipedia and if the information is accurate, the movie was planned originally for a 2002 release. However, flooding in Prague (where the production was filmed) and other financial difficulties, including the bankruptcy of the original production company during post-production resulted in a delayed release. Now, that's really unfortunate.

I wonder if there will be remake of this movie by production houses with good special effects expertise, and perhaps an entirely new casting? I still think a movie with such promising storyline and premise deserves a better chance. Serious.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #204

We were at the Proton showroon at SS14, Subang Jaya this morning. I was so excited to see the new Saga FLX that comes with CVT for a smoother drive!

CVT is Continuously Variable Transmission that uses a belt rather than fixed gears to turn engine torque into power. This translates into silky smooth gearshifts. It also means better fuel economy, less wear and tear on your engine and eco-friendly emissions.

The gear level has an extra switch called the SAT (Stepped Automatic Transmission) switch that stimulates the feel of a standard 6-speed automatic transmission. Photo here.

ABS with EBD is in place for the FLX 1.3 Executive. ABS = Anti-lock Braking System. EBD = Electronic Breakforce Distribution. In short, it means better safety. Photo here.

Press release from Proton: Best-selling SAGA Now Even Better. New PROTON SAGA FLX 1.3L to Provide Greater Fuel Efficiency with CVT

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #203

This dish is called "Little Wok" at Medan Selera Taman Desa. I choose the variant with added Shaoxing wine in the broth and substitute rice with beehoon in soy sauce. I'll only order this dish when I'm super hungry.

The wok comes with about six fish balls and four meat balls, pork, lettuce, seaweed, and wolfberries or goji berries, the little red berries in Chinese herbal soup dishes.

I've also blogged about other noodle dishes at this food court here. :)

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Movie: Hanna (2011)

Adapt or Die

Hanna (2011) is an action-suspense thriller set in Finland and Germany, directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist).

Synopsis: A young girl, Hanna (Saoirse Ronan from The Lovely Bones) lives with her father, Erik Heller (Eric Bana) in the harsh wilderness of Finland without connections to the outside world. He raises her as an assassin with all of the skills necessary to kill his long-time rival, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett).

This movie is a success for Saiorse Ronan who's a rising young female action star. As Hanna, Ronan displays unusual capabilities and expertise in one-on-one combats, even with men twice her size. Her lack of exposure to the outside world causes her to act like a goon in a bewildered state of mind as she travels across Finland, Morocco, Spain, and Germany. Her ability to converse in a few languages fluently is captivating. Overall, Ronan's performance is fantastic for an actress her age.

Needless to say, Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett as the icy, redhead agent Wiegler sends chills down your spine. Coldblooded and ruthless, she does everything in her will, even if she has to team up with assassins outside the boundary of law, to wipe off Erik and Hanna's existence from the face of the earth.

The winning elements of this movie are the crisply choreographed and intense action sequences coupled with an incredible score by The Chemical Brothers. The score complements very well with slow-mo and stylish yet intense fight compositions. You could feel a wide spectrum of emotions - joy, hope, fear, bewilderment, tension, etc. The soundtrack is praised for its mix of violence and innocence that brings forth the uniqueness of this movie.

My beef is with the weak storyline. It'd be much better if the back story is given more onscreen exposure compared to the cat-and-mouse game among Hanna, Erik, and Wiegler. Hanna's character needs more development, not just a few minutes of verbal explanation of who she is. We can hardly relate to her and feel her torment.

Recommended for action junkies. Saoirse Ronan is no Angelina Jolie but given another 5 years or so, she'll be the next action star.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #202

smug
adjective /sməg/ 
Having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements.

Yes, that's the feeling about a person. You want it, you geddit.

On a side note, I've been wanting to blog about the seven colors of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum after watching Green Lantern. In my opinion, the most powerful emotion of all is fear. Hmm. Will find time to write about this. Fear fuels a lot of our actions, even our habits.

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Discover Your Twitter Character on Visual.ly

To view the picture, please click this direct link: http://bit.ly/nZn02a

Twitterized by Visual.ly

This Twitter Data-Generated Infographic says that I've a geeky grin, I'm a techie, my likely obsession is based on circumstantial evidence, and I'm a Twitter Pro with less than 2K followers.

One interesting stuff: Follow Visually on Twitter, like Visually on Facebook, or give Visually a +1 for a chance to get your very own customized avatar. Cool eh? Let's see if I can get the avatar.

Get yourself Twitterized too!

http://visual.ly/twitter

How does it work?

We are using data from your Twitter account's tweets (posts) combined with some twitter data from our friends over at infochimps. Our Twitterize yourself tool will generate an infographic in an instant based upon your information.

The 'outfits' and 'accessories' are chosen based upon keywords most associated for you. For example, if you tweet a lot about wineries, you will see a wine glass in your hand; Go to the ballpark often? Then your avatar will be dressed in a sports jersey and so on. There are a total of 11 possible outfits that depict your overall Twitter personality and 29 different accessories that could be assigned to show your interests.

We don't stop there, though! You'll also see cool diagrams of data depicting the amount of tweets, followers, people you're following and the amount of tweets you see per day. If you've chosen to compare yourself to another Twitter user (including a celebrity account), you'll also see who's the bigger retweeter, who's more social, who's more interesting and what your comparative followers to following ratios are, as well as topics you potentially have in common.

Once the Visual.ly exclusive Twitterize yourself infographic has been created, you can share with your friends via Twitter and Facebook and on your blog with ease.

Note: This is not a sponsored post.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #201

Kotex Malaysia is running a series of campaigns called iKnowMovement. You can visit their Facebook fan page: facebook.com/iknowmovement 

Their most recent campaign is the V-Zone Revolution. I've blogged about their launch early July this year. Here's the blog post: V-Zone Revolution with Kotex® Fresh Plus 

The photo shows my results after taking the Kotex WellBeing Meter quiz. I have an overall score of 82.

Nutrition = 92%
Fitness = 76%
Beauty = 60%
V-Zone = 100%

Hmmm... I'm advised to pay a little more attention to my image. Oops. 

What about you? Take the quiz now and see how good is your wellbeing. :)

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #200

The photo's original link is here.

I like the quote that suits it: "Fate is an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." - An ancient Chinese belief

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Movie: The Outlaw (2010)

The Outlaw (2010) is a Korean crime thriller movie.

Synopsis: Detective Jeong-Su (Kam Woo-Seong) from the Homicide Department is investigating a series of horrific and random murders that involve female victims. He works with fellow detective So-Young (Jang Sin-Yeong) to track down the brutal murderer.

Fate has it that Detective Jeong-Su falls in love and marries Ji-Hyun (Lee Seung-Min), the only survivor from the horrific ordeal.

Unfortunately, misfortune befalls the family and one day, Ji-Hyun is murdered. For the sake of revenge and vindication, Jeong-Su plans to punish the murderers outside the boundary of the law.

In my opinion, the Korean filmmakers are sort of "deranged", especially those who make movies so full of blood-lust that you'll find them disgustingly repulsive. One of the best movies in this category is I Saw the Devil.

The Outlaw is not as disgusting as I Saw the Devil but it still paints a very unrealistic picture of rape, torture, and violent crime done by psychopaths. Then, the storyline toys with vengeance, revenge, and despair, before it ends with the famous "if the law fails you and if all else fail, you can bring forth justice even if it's outside the law".

Recommended? Well, if you don't like to watch a movie that piles huge doses of depression and agony on you, you'll have to give this movie a pass. This disclaimer is shown at the end of the movie: "This movie does not represent real people or situations." LOL!

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #199

A roast goose from Hong Kong was shared among 20++ colleagues.

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Hawker Food @ Restoran Hoong Fook, Sri Petaling

It was our first time in Sri Petaling and we went for hawker food at Restoran Hoong Fook, somewhere along the Jalan Merah Caga area. Here's its location on Foursquare.

Lui Cha 

I had Lui Cha, one of my favorite choices for a healthy lunch. This bowl of fiber goodness consists of chopped four-angled beans (kacang botol), green leafy vegetables, cabbage, dried radish, bean curds, and roasted groundnuts. 

The lui cha tea paste wasn't too strong to my taste, just how I like it. Some hawker stalls' lui cha paste has a very strong minty flavor which I find repulsive.

Find out more about my lui cha adventure!

Spicy Pork Noodles 

Being a spicy food junkie, David had Spicy Pork Noodles. The broth's fiery red color looked menacingly spicy but it was surprisingly tasty and our tongues weren't numbed too much.

Check out pork noodles at Medan Selera Taman Desa.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #198 - The Last Watch

The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. The Last Watch is the sequel to the Night Watch trilogy: Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch.

Synopsis:

The Last Watch is the stunning sequel to the Night Watch trilogy, following the fortunes of the Others. Indistinguishable from normal people but possessed of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark, or to the Light...

While on holiday in Scotland, visiting 'The Dungeons of Edinburgh', a young Russian tourist is murdered. As the police grapple with the fact that the cause of the young man's death was a massive loss of blood, the Watches are immediately aware that there is a renegade vampire on the loose.

Anton - the hero of the Night Watch trilogy - is detailed to this seemingly mundane investigation, but begins to realize that there is much more to the story than a wildcat vampire and a single murder, and discovers that a team of unlicensed Others are hunting for a fabled magical treasure, hidden in the sixth level of the Twilight by Merlin himself...

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #197

Our first house viewing experience was spent at Astana Damansara, Sec 17. Good learning curve. :)

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #196

According to the Shape magazine, June 2011 issue, there are five types of women body: Hourglass, Cone, Ruler, Pear, and Apple.

• Hourglass: Has a small waist but with a proportionate upper and lower body.
• Cone: Has a wider upper body and narrow lower body, with a tendency to show weight gain most prominently on the upper half.
• Ruler: Is proportionate all over, with weight gain or loss evenly distributed on the upper and lower body.
• Pear: A smaller upper body and wider lower half, with a tendency to gain weight below the waistline.
• Apple: Has an ample bust, a thicker midsection, a round appearance on the upper half, but with slimmer legs.

I think I'm a pear. Wardrobe tips include:

• longer tops that cover the hip level
• mid-length-sleeved tops with shorts (but not skin-tight)
• high-waisted short dresses that focus on the upper torso and puff out over the hips
• slimming and lengthening jeans with a hip-skimming top
  
• wear accessories that draw attention off the bottom torso, e.g. a necklace over a plain top or a pair of earrings with fancier outfits
• avoid skinny jeans and low-slung jeans to avoid muffin-top incidents

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Movie: Flat 3A (2011)

Flat 3A (2011) is a Malaysian horror movie.

Synopsis: Fiqah (Intan Ladyana) is forced to abort her unborn child at home by her boyfriend Anas (Adey Syafrien). Wanting to forget the ugly incident, she moves to a new flat with her housemate, Ratna (Shasha), without knowing that the house's previous owner was Kang Suman (Zaidi Omar), a neighborhood shaman who had disappeared mysteriously.

Parallel to that, a young man, Wahyu (Ery Zukhairi) is trying to track his missing young niece Fatin in the same neighborhood. Fatin's mother (Khaty Azean) is at the brink of becoming insane because she misses her daughter. As more and more supernatural incidents happen at the rundown flat, Wahyu finds himself getting closer to unravel the nasty truth that surrounds the haunted flat, Fiqah, Anas, and Fatin.

I'm getting goosebumps all over as I write this post. Seriously, Malaysian horror movies are getting more and more up to par nowadays. Although not all are good, I've to agree that the good ones are really good. Some are even better than their Thai counterparts.

Good Thai horror movies are eerie because they give you the sense of despair and send shivers down your spine. Korean horror movies are slightly different because they love to spice them up with lots of blood, pain, and gore. Depending on the director, the Malaysian horror movies genre can be either horror comedy or dark horror.

There may not be much blood and gore in Flat 3A but it does a good job in scaring the pants off you. Traditional scare factors such as dim lighting, dark corners, eerie music, wind blowing, shrill shouts, and rundown buildings are good enough to make sure you watch the movie with your eyes half closed most of the time.

To me, the scariest part of the movie is when the ghost of the dead girl Fatin keeps on singing this eerie lullaby: "Satu, satu, Fatin sayang emak. Dua, dua, emak sayang Fatin. Tiga, tiga, sayang sama-sama. Empat, empat, sayang selamanya." Sometimes, she sings it fast. Then, she slows down, really slow, and she stops singing completely. And tada, there she is, staring at you from the dark corner! Arggghhh!

Ok, that's enough. If you like getting scared in cinemas, do watch this movie. You'll enjoy it. By the way, when I watched this movie last night, someone (I don't know who) switched on the lights in the hall for almost 10 minutes at one point. LOL!

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Nokia Recycle A Phone Adopt A Tree Program

Earlier this month, Nokia Malaysia launched Nokia Recyclimpics, the nation's first recycling sporting event at Mid Valley Megamall. The catch of the event was that people attended the event with their old mobile phones, play some games, win some cool prizes, and most importantly, SAVE THE EARTH.

I had a good, fun, and educational time at the event. Here's my blog post: Nokia Recyclimpics 1-3 July 2011

After depositing four of our old mobile phones at the event, David and I received four registration cards for the Nokia Recycle A Phone Adopt A Tree Program.

The card looks like this:

Here are the steps we took to plant trees under our name in Indonesia:

1. Log into http://www.nokia.mynewtrees.com/Register.aspx to register.
2. Follow the instructions as shown on the screen.
3. Type in the serial number and Registration number which is located below this card.
4. Nokia will send you a planting certificate with the co-ordinates of your tree via email.

This is the notification after our registration.

We received an email with planting certificates from Nokia.

Thank you for recycling your mobile phone(s) with Nokia and participating in our Nokia Recycle A Phone Adopt A Tree Program. We are pleased to advise you the coordinates of the tree we will be planting on your behalf.

Certificate reference: NEWtrees Tree 19996.pdf

Seeing your tree in Ovi Maps is really easy:

1. Click on this website http://www.nokia.mynewtrees.com
2. For easy reference, attached are step by step instructions how to go about viewing your tree(s).

In case you have any problems, please send an email to feedback@mynewtrees.com

Thank you again for participating in this program to help conserve the world's forests. For more information about this NEWtrees program please click on this website http://www.wwf.or.id/newtrees

With Best Regards,
Market Environmental Affairs
Nokia South East Asia Pacific

Here's how we view our trees:

1. Go to website: http://www.nokia.mynewtrees.com

2. To allocate your tree, type your name or email address, and click the button "Find Your Trees". The map at the right panel will automatically navigate to your tree's coordinate with a tree icon.

3. Double click on your tree icon at the right panel, and the tree information will be displayed.

My trees are 19996 and 19997.

Here's some information about the program.

NEWTrees Program is a re-forestation & peat land preservation project in which Nokia has committed fund to plant of more than 100,000 trees & rejuvenate the peat forest in the Sebangau & Rinjani National Parks.

Nokia has committed fund to the man-made canals damming project by WWF Indonesia. This project help to bring back the natural water table balances within the peat forest and thus prevent the drying up & underground peat fires.

The Nokia sponsored plots for re-forestation are geo-tagged (with latitudes and longitudes) with N95 device and upload to the free 'Ovi Maps' and each tree planted could be individually identified. Nokia N95 with its GPS capability will be used to take photo of the trees planted and then forward it to the program web-page in ‘Ovi Maps’ to be geo-tagged onto the park map and viewed by anyone instantly.

Read here for more info.

So, if you have old mobile phones that you don't know what to do with, do sign up for this program:
http://www.nokia.mynewtrees.com/pages/Register.aspx

Before that, do read up about how to recycle your phones at Nokia Kiosks.

RECYCLE A PHONE, ADOPT A TREE, SAVE THE EARTH!

Note: This is not a sponsored post.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #195

My Foursquare badges history:

1. Newbie: 26 Oct 2010
2. Adventurer: 9 Nov 2010
3. Explorer: 21 Nov 2010
4. Super User: 25 Nov 2010
5. Bender: 25 Nov 2010
6. Local: 26 Nov 2010
7. Crunked: 26 Nov 2010
8. Superstar: 3 Dec 2010
9. Photogenic: 5 Dec 2010
10. 16 Candles: 7 Dec 2010
11. Swarm: 7 Dec 2010
12. Overshare: 8 Dec 2010
13. Bookworm: 12 Dec 2010
14. 9 to 5: 17 Dec 2010
15. Barista: 21 Dec 2010
16. School Night: 23 Dec 2010
17. New Year's 2011: 31 Dec 2010
18. Super Mayor: 2 Jan 2011
19. Groupie: 5 Jan 2011
20. American Red Cross: 5 Jan 2011
21. Ziggy's Wagon: 8 Jan 2011
22. Player Please!: 10 Jan 2011
23. I'm on a boat!: 10 Jan 2011
24. Animal House: 15 Jan 2011
25. Swimmies: 31 Jan 2011
26. Babysitter: 2 Feb 2011
27. Handmade Hero: 13 Feb 2011
28. excELLENt fan: 20 Feb 2011
29. Sounds So Good: 20 Feb 2011
30. Zoetrope: 27 Feb 2011
31. Don't Stop Believin': 27 Feb 2011
32. Hangover: 2 Mar 2011
33. Fixer Upper: 4 Mar 2011
34. JetSetter: 6 Mar 2011
35. Just Desserts: 13 Mar 2011
36. Gym Rat: 14 Mar 2011
37. Pizzaiolo: 19 Mar 2011
38. Fresh Brew: 23 Mar 2011
39. Downward Facing Dog: 26 Mar 2011
40. 7-10 Split: 28 Mar 2011
41. Dog's Best Friend: 8 Apr 2011
42. 4sqDay 2011: 16 Apr 2011
43. SuperStyle: 29 Apr 2011
44. Warhol: 3 May 2011
45. Lufthansa Eurovision Song Contest 2011: 14 May 2011
46. RuPaul's Drag Race: 25 May 2011
47. Healthy Lizard: 2 Jun 2011
48. Puma - Midnight Munchies: 4 Jun 2011
49. Great Outdoors: 4 Jun 2011
50. Bookworm Bender: 12 Jun 2011
51. Ten Hundred: 6 July 2011
52. Wino: 6 July 2011
53. Pepsi Summer Fun: 14 July 2011
54. It's a girl!: 14 July 2011
55. It's a boy!: 14 July 2011

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My Fave Noodles Dishes @ Medan Selera Taman Desa

Spicy Pork Noodles
 
This is my favorite pork noodles variant. Its spiciness level changes every time I order. I guess the seller's mood fluctuates when he's cooking? :P Anyway, I really like the generous amount of green leafy vegetables, cabbage, and most importantly, lots of liver, minced pork balls, and other parts of the animal!

So, if you want a hearty meal and don't mind getting your taste buds "kicked", try this dish. Oh, the seller specifically mentions to me one time that his Spicy Pork Noodles goes best with rice noodles (beehoon) and yellow noodles. Take note of that. ;)

Pork Noodles (Soup)

There are two types: with and without egg. Both variants come with - like I mentioned before - lots of green leafy vegetables, cabbage, and most importantly, lots of liver, minced pork balls, and other parts of the animal! The broth is tasty and flavorful (be it with or without MSG, I don't care). :P

Pork Noodles (Dry)

Do you see the amount of minced pork and pork cracklings in the bowl of noodles with soy sauce? I tell you, you will be "suffering" from porky overdose! Anyway, I love my noodles with lots of minced pork. The rest of the ingredients can be found in the bowl of soup. I always ask for more liver. :P

Oh, where is this place? It's called Medan Selera Taman Desa at Jalan 109F, Taman Danau Desa. Here's its Foursquare location.

More noodles dishes here.

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Project 365 2011 - Photo #194

My ticket to DiGi's WWWOW Awards event last night.

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V-Zone Revolution with Kotex® Fresh Plus

Who haven't heard of Kotex®? Kotex is a brand that plays an undeniably significant role in the female population. With almost 60 years of experience in Malaysia, Kotex is constantly striving to develop innovative campaigns and products to help women to stay fresh and healthy.

End of 2010, Kotex launched the world's first and only pad that combines superior technology with stunning design, excitingly named as the KOTEX® Luxe* Ultrathin Design Pads. In fact, I'm pretty impressed that Kotex has taken the lead to "revolt"!

The revolution to help increase awareness of the importance of feminine health has just begun...

This year, Kotex launches the V-Zone Revolution campaign and introduces the new-and-improved range of Fresh Plus liners to help women revolutionize the way we care for our V-Zone.

So ladies, welcome to the Kotex V-Zone Revolution!

Last Thursday, 7 July 2011, I attended an exclusive media event with Kotex as they launched their V-Zone Revolution campaign. It was indeed a privilege to be part of the latest fad that's taking Malaysia by storm!Why the term V-Zone? Well, instead of using the somewhat shy term called "down there", V-Zone is a much better term coined to exude confidence and increase awareness of feminine health.

Photo courtesy of Kotex, from left to right: Consultant gynecologist Dr. Premitha Damodaran, Marketing Manager of Kimberly-Clark (Malaysia) Haniza Hj Tahir, Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark (Malaysia) Nathan Kandapper, and the Kotex Fresh Face Girls 2011 -- Winnie, Nabila, and Sher Leen. They are the main personalities we met at the media event.

For daily hygiene use and care, Kotex Fresh Plus is the first ever liner proven to protect the V-Zone!

It comes in three variants:

• Kotex Fresh Plus Ultra V-Care contains anti-bacterial properties that keep the V-Zone healthy by inhibiting the growth of yeast and unhealthy bacteria which can cause infections.
• Kotex Fresh Plus Gentle Care is pH-balanced and specially developed for sensitive skin. Dermatologically-tested against allergies and irritants, it helps to keep the V-Zone fresh and comfortable without triggering skin irritation.
• Kotex Fresh Plus Designs has attractive colorful designs with a mild natural scent to help soothe your senses.

This pretty door gift from Kotex is called the V-Zone thumbdrive.

Before I end this post, I would like to highlight these three easy tips provided by Kotex:

• V-Check: It shouldn't be "out of sight, out of mind". Check the V-Zone regularly to make sure everything is all right. Symptoms such as unusual smells or discharges, irregular periods or spotting between menstruation cycles are warning signs, and we should see a doctor to determine if there is a problem that needs treatment.
• V-Cleanse: Don't under-clean or over-clean the V-Zone. Be sensitive and don't use chemicals or fragrances that may break the harmonious natural balance of your V-Zone. The oils and discharge naturally present in the V-Zone help to protect and keep the area healthy, hence unnecessary cleansing removes this protection and makes the V-Zone vulnerable to infections. Instead, all we need to keep the V-Zone clean is warm (not hot) water and a mild soap for the surrounding area only when necessary.
• V-Protect: Protect the V-Zone by allowing it to "breathe" - wear cotton underwear and replace pads or tampons regularly during period. Also, start the habit of using liners daily to keep the V-Zone dry and fresh all the time but do make sure they're replaced at least every four hours!

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