So Many Things, So Little Time!

With so many things happening these couple of weeks, there's simply no time to update my blog!

I was randomly searching for things to watch on Youtube, when an interesting title caught my attention.

The title read, "Nonsensical Saints Row The Third". Now, we know that 'Saints Row: The Third' is an action-adventure open world video game which focuses on the urban gang war between the Saints (i.e.players) and three other gangs (namely the Luchadores, Deckers and MorningStar). With such a dark and violent theme, one would wonder how nonsensical it can get. After watching the first video posted by gamer Nova, I couldn't stop laughing from start to end. The silly/ridiculous things that Nova and his friend Spoon did in the game, as well as their enthusiastic commentary, blended well with the game's knowingly crazy and juvenile sense of humor. This series consists of 68 episodes, and I guarantee that each episode is fun-packed.

To watch the videos, simply click on this link and have fun!

Meanwhile, I had also been waiting for the highly anticipated Angry Birds Space to be released, and it has finally hit the Apple App Store on 22 March! This time, the battle between the Angry Birds and the pigs takes place in a whole new galaxy. Prior to the game's release, Rovio has released a couple of trailers which introduced the new birds (including the Ice Bomb Bird and Lazer Bird, among many others), and also featured a demostration of microgravity by NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Check out this video to see the physics behind the latest installment from Rovio:


That's it for now! Meanwhile, back to episode 36 of "Nonsenscial Saints Row The Third" for me...

12 Mar 2012 -- Like A Boss! Episode 03: And We Thought Aaron Is Going To Study Overseas...

Well, turns out he is going to tour Central Europe first before studying. (-.-)|||

Anyway, before he set off for London two days later, we decided to go for a gathering. We met at ION Orchard this time, and Joshua couldn't join us because he has counter duty that night. Upon Kwang Yueh's recommendation, we decided to have Xiao Long Bao at Paradise Dynasty.

When we reached the entrance of the restaurant, we were surprised by the large crowd outside the restaurant. As such, we had to wait for about 30 minutes before it's our turn. In the meantime, we just sat outside the restaurant and chatted...

Since our aim is to eat Xiao Long Bao, there was no doubt that the first thing we had on our wishlist was the best selling  Xiao Long Bao Sampler set. It comes in 8 different flavours, ranging from the simple original flavour, to the more creative flavours such as Cheesy and Foie Gras. Priced at $13.80, this set of Xiao Long Bao never failed to surprise us with its unique tastes.

We also ordered 2 sets of the original flavour Xiao Long Bao. The skin texture and thickness was just right and the soup inside had a rich flavour which complemented well with the moist pork. Well worth the $9.80 we paid for 10 pieces. :)

I also ordered the La Mian in Signature Pork Bone Soup served with Pork & Vegetable Dumplings. The silky handmade noodles did not disappoint and has a firm texture. The pork bone soup was also awesome as it tasted just nice and not too salty for me.

I enjoyed my dining experience at Paradise Dynasty, and I thought it was well worth the wait and money. I definitely would make a return for it! :)

Draw Something: The Ultimate Craze In Office!!! o.O

It's been a while since I posted! I have been pretty busy these days, hence the blog was not updated for quite a while.

A craze has been sweeping over my office for these past week or so. Everyone has been drawing stuff on their phones. Soon, even I got swept into the craze. :)

Introducing "Draw Something", a Pictionary-like game which is available on iOS and Android! It is created by the company OMGPOP and has taken the world (or least my office) by storm. Nearly a month into its release, it has garnered up to 6 million downloads. Awesome stuff for a newly released game!

Why is this game so addictive? Well, it is simple and social. You don't have to be a brilliant artist to play this game (although having an artistic vein will be a bonus for friends to guess the object you are doodling.). Armed with only a simple colour palette with 4 colours (black, red, yellow and blue), you are ready to impress people with your artwork! Depending on your difficulty level, the person who manages to guess the drawing will get a certain number of coins as rewards. 1 coin is given for Easy level, while 3 coins will be given for the Hard level. These coins can in turn be used to buy stuffs such as Bombs (which allows you to re-shuffle the words allocated to you for drawing if you are stuck) or to expand your colour palette.


The viral factor of this game lies in the fact that it allows you to engage with your friends on social networks, allowing players to enjoy the game with a very large circle of friends. You can have many sessions with your friends at one time, so there is no need to worry about running out of slots.

Here's a short video on the game


Anyway, if you are addicted to the game, you can also try the Facebook version called Draw My Thing. It's slightly different from the original version, as the Facebook version allows you to compete against random users as well.

Meanwhile, back to the drawing board for me! :)

12 Feb 2012 -- Like A Boss! Episode 02: WHY YOU NO TREAT ME!!!

Spurred on by the considerable success of Like A Boss! Episode 01, the second outing came fast and furious! Anyway, I suggested the second outing to Kwang Yueh mainly because I was very apologetic for missing Kwang Yueh's 21st birthday party at Costa Sands Resort. Hence I promised him that I will give him a lunch treat.

After a bit of planning, we decided to have a second outing, starting with lunch at Ramen Keisuke. We went to the branch at Parco Marina Bay. Ramen Keisuke is the first overseas venture of Mr. Keisuke Takeda, who carries the title of "TV Tokyo's Ramen King". One interesting thing I liked about the restaurant's menu is that it allows customers to choose how strong they want the soup base to beand also the noodle texture, hence it seeks to cater to everyone's ltastes buds.

Kwang Yueh recommended me the hot favourite Watarikani Ramen (Crab stock ramen), but I can't really eat seafood, so I opted for the standard Tonkotsu Ramen.

The broth was flavorful and thick, but may not suit everyone's liking as it may be a bit too salty. Conscious of the sodium content, I opted for "light" when ordering my ramen. Then again, Japanese ramen tend to be saltier and have a richer flavour compared to the reinvented versions sold in Singapore, hence you should take this chance to experience the taste of Japan's ramen.

(OOT: I have always wondered how the chefs cook the eggs so well. It's definitely hard-boiled, but somehow the yolk is semi-cooked and has a luscious dark orange colour. A quick search on the internet revealed that all you need to do is put the egg into the water first before you start boiling the water on the stove. Once the water is boiling, let boil for another 5 mins and off the fire. Then put the eggs in cold water. I've never tried it before, but it looks pretty easy...)

I looked over to the rest of the people who ordered Watarikanu Ramen, and almost instantly I regretted not ordering the crab stock ramen. It is a very unique flavour, and Vincent and Kwang Yueh were singing praises about the rich flavour of the crab broth. If only I could eat seafood... T.T

Look, we could try Korean songs...

After lunch, Joshua left first due to other commitments while the rest of us head for our next activity: karaoke. We made our way to Cuppage Plaza to sing our hearts out! Here we go!!!!

Put your hands up!

Surprisingly, Vincent is pretty good at Chinese songs! And Kwang Yueh does what he does best, singing like a star! Meanwhile, Cheng Wai and I will just act as back-up vocals..hehe... :D

We belted out hits like Lady Gaga's Poker Face, Katy Perry's Hot'n'Cold, Cee Lo Green's F*** You, and even attempted the impossible by screaming out throats out singing Shin's songs (the likes of 千年之恋 and 如果还有明天 nearly killed all of us.). But we definitely had fun singing for 3 straight hours!




Here are the other pictures! Enjoy! ^.^

我问天，我问天。。。

Blame Vincent's shaky
hands for this! Anyway, the
one on the left is yours truly!

Rent-A-Movie: Nasi Lemak 2.0

I am back! Apologies for the long absence, but as usual, many things have happened during my disappearing act, one of which has contributing to my lack of posts.

I have been writing the last few blog posts using my Huawei MediaPad. As a result, I had been experiencing neck pains for the last week due to my incorrect sitting posture. Frankly speaking, if you hold your head forward in a flexed or bent position for long periods of time while looking at your tablet computer, it could result in serious neck problems. I have been hugging to my Mediapad for three weeks straight, and sitting in front of a computer during work from 9 to 5 did not help matters. Eventually, it was inevitable that it eventually became a "pain in the neck" and I have to stop using for a while. T.T

Devoid of my daily dose of entertainment, I turned to renting movies to watch at home. It turned to be a good idea, because I rented one particularly funny movie to watch.

Its title "Nasi Lemak 2.0" was the one that initally caught my attention as I scrolled through my mioTV menu for something to watch. With food used as a title for the movie, I thought this movie should be quite interesting, and I was not disappointed.

Nasi Lemak 2.0 is a low budget Malaysian film directed by Namewee and was released in September 2011. It also starred the director as the movie's protaganist Huang Da Xia, a young chef who struggles to keep his Chinese restaurant going but was a hero in the local neighbourhood as he helps the community. One day, he crosses paths with Xiao K, who asks for his help. Xiao K's father is athe owner of a big Chinese restaurant and is embroiled in a battle for ownership with her aunt. Chef Huang decides to help her out but lost the competition to see who can cook the best Chinese cuisine. Later, he receives help from a neighouring Nasi Lemak hawker stall lady, who summons him to embark on a myserious and enriching journey.

I like this movie mainly because of the style of acting as well as the creativity infused into the movie, which is unique to Malaysia itself and audiences can instantly relate to the characters and the script. I was laughing from start to end. However, this movie is not without controversy. At times, this movie seemed to nearly get into trouble with the censorship laws as it veers dangerously close to touching on sensitive issues (I shall not spoil the movie for everyone, so it's best you watch it yourselves.). However, this movie has taught everyone an important lesson. In every multiracial and multicultural society, social unity is important for the country. The movie draws similarities between racial harmony and the iconic food nasi lemak. Like the dish which is made up of as variety of side dishes along with rice, a society is made up of different communities of different cultures and races which integrate to become one big family.

So go catch this movie on DVD! Hope you will enjoy the movie as much as I do! :)

Xander VS PaperPokes

I have to admit I have poor hand-eye coordination, but still good enough to get a driving licence and drive a car around town. As such, tasks like origami actually pose quite a great challenge to me. Not that I cannot make folded paper cranes though, it's just that I take awfully long to complete them. T.T

Henceforth, papercraft is murder to me.

As usual, I was surfing the web for random stuff when I chanced upon a Youtube video. All the video showed a Pikachu papercraft model flying around the desk for the entire 7 seconds. Obviously, it drew a bit of flak because instead of teaching people how to make a similar paercraft model, what the guy did throughout that 7 precious seconds was to show Pikachu walking around his desk. Bothered.

Fortunately, he put up the link for the papercraft template.

*Stares at link and click*

That was when curiosity killed the cat (read: yours truly)

Half-completed! Only head and body
done by the 3 hour mark

So for the next 6 hours or so, my life was thrown into despair, as I struggled to cut and glue the various parts together. My agony was furthered worsened when I realised all I was equipped is an old gluestick, a scissors, and loads of tape. But anyway, I got it done step by step.

Ta da! After 6 hours, this is what I got!
(Although loads of tape)

Anyway, for those who like to try making a papercraft model, here is the link to the templates required:
http://papercraftprintable.com/free-kawaii-pikachu-pokemon-paper-craft/

7 Jan 2011 -- It's Time To Party!!! :D

As much as this this post is long overdue, there is no way I will forget to post this on my blog.
Last week, we had booked a chalet at Costa Sands Resort to chill out. At around 6.30pm, the core group headed for the chalet first to set up everything and start the barbecue, having earlier went to swim and play soccer before that. As I had something on earlier, I decided to head for the party later with Aaron, not forgeting to chip in some soft drinks and snacks as well.

When Aaron and I arrived at the chalet about 20 minutes later from Pasir Ris Interchange, the party has already started and the smell of barbecued food was simply irresistable. However, our experience in barbecue was left severly wanting. One friend, let us call him 'V', decided to put in half a box of fire-starter into the barbecue pit in the hope of starting up the fire more quickly. Obviously this backfired, while it had achieved the desired outcome of starting the fire quickly, the flames were so big that our whole barbecue pit looked more like an inferno. Have you seen the Foxtrot comic strip where Roger Fox barbecue stuff for his family? Well, I guess we nearly did a 'Roger Fox'.

A bit is an understatement...zzz

Our solution (not a permanent one though) is to douse the flames from time to time, although the flames of fury still managed to break past our defences and threatened to burn our food. As a result, some of our chicken wings and sausages were a bit burnt. FDortunately, the food still tasted good, and edible. I like the satay and the sambal sting ray the most, not only because they were cooked very well, they tasted really delicious as well.


After nearly 2 hours of barbecue, we decided to head in for some fun and games. Lloyd had brought his Playstation 3 and some of the games along and we decided to play a bit of Modern Warfare 3 first. Shortly after, we had a mini FIFA 11 face-off.



Nomnomnom...

First-up, it was my Inter Milan against Vincent's Liverpool. Our match was perpetually disrupted by a bee, which refused to get out of our room despite our persistent 'pleas' (we actaully killed it, so it wasn't much of a plea.) That aside, I won 1-0 thanks to a lucky strike and the fact that Vincent's Liverpool accumulated so many fouls that there were a flurry of red and yellow cards flying around across the Reds camp.

After which, Round 2 features a show-down between my Blackburn and Joshua's Liverpool. Apparently, I had underestimated Joshua and more important, Liverpool's strength (Please don't kill me, Liverpool fans! >.<). My Blackburn had taken an early lead through a powerful strike, but Blackburn's defence gave way in the 2nd half and Torres scored twice to wrap up Liverpool's victory.

After a few more rounds of FIFA11, I had to head home first as I had to be up early the next morning. (From what I understand, the party continued late into the night with drinking games etc.) Despite my early departure, I enjoyed my time at the chalet! It was awesome being with a bunch of good friends and I hope we can have another chalet like this.

(Edit: We WILL have another chalet like this... very soon! ^^ So watch this space! Cheers.)