Sunday, January 28, 2007

One Really Long Weekend



This weekend has been a lil busy but otherwise fun. Met with some people who I haven't seen in a long while. The funny thing about it was that one group was all girls whereas the other was all guys.

In anycase, I've put up the pics of my weekend. There will be group pics that some of you might want to check out. However, the pics will be small. If you are interested in getting the pics don't hesitate to leave your email address at the chatterbox on the right.

Saturday night I went to meet Lyd, May Lian and Shi Wei in Pizza Uno at Centrepoint Bandar Utama. The place has undergone renovation since the last time I went there. There's certainly more room for tables and chairs though we patrons aren't given alot of space to move around.

We basically sat at the restaurant for the entire duration of our stay. Traded stories over what we have been up to over the past year or so. Some told stories of hardships in working over in Australia, others told the joys and pains of teaching in a kid's class. Overall it was a good time to catch with friends over a hearty warm meal.

Overbaked Roast Chicken for dinner. Rather pricey..... :(

The whole lot of us standing outside Pizza Uno after dinner.

Sunday, went over to have lunch at the Curve with Kat. The whole place looked set for Chinese New Year. Fake cherry blossom trees all around. A very pinky CNY this year.


Enjoying a drink at Vivo. Mine came with a little green bush.

It looked like the Curve was all ready to usher the new year with its spectacular flower display.

Twin suns shone down on the cherry blossom display.


Later in the evening, I met with the rest of the guys. John's got a swanky new car that he gladly took us on a spin. Some reckoned it was like sitting on an airplane....with a pilot on steroids. In any case, we had Bah Kut Teh in SS14, Subang Jaya. The restaurant was pretty crowded so we were forced to sit outside.

Even the food arrived late due to the populariy of the restaurant and soup was in short supply. Still it was a good meal at that. Don't mind going back there again sometime.

John and Jim checking out John's new ride.

The guys over at the Bah Kut Teh shop. Just look at their hungry faces, we couldn't wait to get our food!!

Evidently this is a cool shot of John looking at a waving hand.

We told our shares of stories about each other while we waited for our meal.

The main course finally came at last.


Nothing can stand the might of five hungry Ex-Monashians!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

In between the lines

Been slow to post up my CES experience as of late. Need to take a short break. In anycase, this is a silly little conversation that I heard yesterday as the guys were playing Call of Duty 2 (a WWII shooter for the PC).

To protect the identity of those I mention, I shall refer to these two individuals as R and E.

R: Hehehe

(R gets to his camping spot in the game. A bunker with with a rusted metal frame bed. Crouches on top of it while lookin out for targets)

E: What are you doing?

R: Don't disturb me. You'll give away my position.

E: Eewww, I don't want to know your position in bed.

R: ..........

E: So what is your position btw?

R: ...........

(Later gets shot to death from said bunker and falls on bed)

Yay, another pointless post.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Finally CES 2007 (Pre-CES)

CES 2007 may be long gone, but it is still fresh in my mind. While the world's attention remained focus on Macworld, I was in Las Vegas to cover the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Supposedly the largest gathering of electronic exhibitors in the world, the very scale of this convention was beyond my expectations.

Consuming a full convention hall and another two off site locations, this was one mamoth of an event. So big that I couldn't cover even half the stuff going on.

In any case, I'm gonna break this down into smaller chunks of posts. I'm gonna start off with some of the stuff I did the day before the convention started. So here I go:

Started out my morning looking at the sun reflecting off the new Wynn hotel. The Trump Tower hotel/casino is slightly to the right of the Wynn.


After I had downed my breakfast, I went on to the convention centre to register myself at the press centre. The process didn't take long though I had to go through a lil trouble of producing evidence that I was indeed with the press.

Having collected my tag I proceeded to board a bus to the Sands Expo Centre. Met this American guy on the bus who claimed to be an ex-marketing manager for Phillips, now turned writer. I tried lining up to attend the Toshiba Press Event but sadly there wasn't enough room for all of us.

Hurried on back to the hotel to meet up with my uncle and another journalist from the Singapore Straits Times, Serene. We proceeded to have lunch at the International Food court, though we mainly stuck to typical American food.

The Typical American Meal consists of a burger with lots and lots of fries.

That's me and my uncle outside the Las Vegas Convention Centre. He drove up from LA to attend the event. Even by mid day most of the trucks containing materials for the convention were streaming in. A sort of last minute effort to get things in order.

I headed over to the Sands to attend Samsung's press event. I was greeted by a long line, though not nearly as long as Toshiba's.

I was pretty surprised to find the Samsung press briefing similar to those back in Malaysia. From the flashy grand entrances to the PR spokes person, everything was exactly the same.

I've got to show at least one picture of somebody talking during the event. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't his best pose.

Later, I was whizzed back to the Renaissance to wait for Sony's press conference. Met with my Yahoo! contact, Jason Coates and he guided us through the unfinished show floor. Many of the exhibitors, like Intel (pictured above) looked like they were only half done with preparations. Amazingly enough, this chaotic scene morphed into a presentable showfloor 12 hours later.

Sony sure likes to colour themselves pretty.

Sony showed off its recently launched PS3s at their booth. People were busy playing them already.

Another pic of a Sony exec, can't remember his name, during their briefing on Sony's plan for the year. We were treated to a violin performance, followed by more speeches. The best part, which everyone else waited for, was the sneak preview of Spiderman 3.

Again I was forced to play fetch the stick as I had to make my way over to the Sands Convention Centre again for Bill Gate's keynote address. Traffic was massive both in and out of the convention centre. Security closed off escalators heading up to the upper floors. So were forced to be sandwiched between loads of other journalist in a small lift. Not fun.

Pretty colours. The stage is all set for Microsoft's Chairman to make his grand entrance.

So here he is, Microsoft's head-honcho, Bill Gates. I was sitting pretty far back so I had to walk up front from the sides to get a good shot. Sadly, many of the shots were blur thanks to my shaky hands and poor lighting of the hall.

You know the world is truly going to end when you see one of the richest man in America try his hand at cooking. Here, Gates demonstrated the new Windows Home Server. Featuring common house functions such as displaying a cooking recipe on the kitchen counter, Home Server looked like a useful tool for people who need to get stuff done around the house.

Egads! I certainly hope my bedroom doesn't come up with a freaking big screen like...wait a minute...I'd like a freaking big screen...minus the corny pictures. Gates showed us some other applications of Windows Home Server, which could turn your bedroom wall into a wallpaper of sorts, movie screen or massive screen for your Xbox 360 games.

After having been held captive by Gate's speech the whole hall simply spilled out into the convention centre. A massive human traffic jam ensued.

It was already dark by the time we got out (actually it was already dark starting from 5pm). My walk to dinner brought me to the front of the Venetian.

Later had dinner with my uncle at this place over at a new open air mall called Fashion Show.

This was dinner. Can't remember what it is called now. But the fact is, this was a SMALL portion. When asked for a large portion, the waitress said she'd double check with you if you really wanted a large. Couldn't finish the dish in the end.

Took some shots of the Strip at night. We were at the North end so there wasn't much around to see. The Frontier is an old casino like the Stardust, which was soon to be torn down. It is likely that the Frontier will meet the fate of the latter. After all, who would watch Ladies Mud Wrestling matches every night, no?

On the opposite end of things, the new Wynn hotel dominates the North End. I've been looking at this hotel every morning so this was my first time seeing it so close at night. Sure Wynn Wynn one.

Venturing inside the Wynn's shopping gallery, it was like looking back at the Bellagio. By now I was numbed by the massive casino and shopping scene of Las Vegas.

If you walk into a shop that tries to sell you James Bond's tux, you know you are outta luck in finding anything that is remotely affordable.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Arrivals

Just got back from the US on Friday. Suffered from severe jet lag. Didn't sleep well on the plane on the way back. It was really bad. I just kept waking up hour after hour, waiting for the next hour to pass.

I am not able to post up pics on what I did after day 2, mostly because I'd like to see it get published in the papers first......still not like anyone cares because everyone is more focused on the bloody iPhone....Sheesh...I might as well not have gone if the whole world's attention was focused elsewhere.....

Suck shit bloody Apple. I'd rather be somewhere else than in a room full of Apple fanatics.

Alright, aside from my disgruntledness over the rather bad ending to the trip, I will just post up pics I took during Shook Yee's bday thingie.

It was Shook's Bday on Sunday so the girls decided to take a little time off to celebrate it with her over at T.G.I. Fridays (The Curve)


Most of them had already ordered, so Kat and myself opted to go for Mushroom, chicken and Mushroom. I suppose it has two 'Mushroom's in the title because it is featured three time in the dish. Fried mushrooms on the outside, mushrooms in the mash potatoe and finally mushroom sauce on the chicken itself.

Sher and Kat talking over stuff


A group shot of the girls


The only photo featuring me in it

Things got interesting as the Fridays employees made Shooks stand on her chair.

"Look, you are on candid camera!!!"

By the end of the "humiliation" session, everyone's stomachs were in knots.

Sabrina took some time off to work on the left over ice cream for dessert. A little bit of chilli sauce never hurt anyone.

"Mix, mix, mix"

Sabs actually tried her own concoction. The expression on her face was priceless.

Sher handing out candy from Australia right after the bday luncheon was over. Thanks for the chocs!!


Sunday, January 07, 2007

Las Vegas (Day 2)

Was up early again this morning hoping to catch some people back home for a chat. Not many around so I was mostly waiting for the right ppl to come online. Finally got myself moving by 8.30 plus.

Today I figure I should go shopping for souvenirs. Headed over to MGM Grand again. Was hoping to see if I could get JW the CSI Tshirt. Found out that it is outrageously priced and looks like the same quality that Ah Beng would sell on Petaling Street. So opted out. Saw abit more of MGM that I didn't see last time. Think I saw the open area where the Wizard of Oz display was at last time. Now its fully casinorized with a bar and (wait for it....) more slot machines in place of the brightly coloured yellow brickroad.

First stop, MGM Grand

The CBS Store where I wanted to get the CSI T-shirts from. No sooner than looking at the price that I thought it would most definitely kill my wallet.

Saw this gungho lady betting on two slot machines at the same time. Damn keng. So eager to quickly lose all her money.

The not-so-wonderful "Poker Tower". Its just a sleezy bar and lots of machines surrounding it.

Popped over to New York x 2 again. This time was there only to look at the price of more souvenirs. Walked over to Monte Carlo, cause I heard that the casino in TV series 'Las Vegas' was based off it. Wasn't too impressed as it didn't have anything going for it. No interesting deco or anything.

The good side of Monte Carlo. I choose this cause it looks nicer and because the main entrance was under construction.

The lobby is nice, but that's all that is nice about the place.

Water-fountain outside the Monte Carlo

Walked over to the Pharmacy to get JL's Emperor Zerg action figure. Good thing nobody gave me weird stares. Crossed the road to check out some shops next to MGM. Went into this funky place called M&M World. As the name says, its everything about M&M's. All sorts of overpriced merchandise is there. The main attraction of the place has got to be My M&M Colors (pardon the American spelling). Basically there are tubes of M&Ms in all sorts of colors. You pick and choose the colors, bring it over to the counter and weigh them in. You pay based on the weight.

M&M's World is the only shop in Vegas that sells nothing but M&M merchandise.

Merchandise is everywhere and its not cheap to boot!!

The main attraction, the wall of colour. Select any M&M color you want, bring it over to the counter, look at the price and let your face drop. But honestly, it looks sooo pretty.....

Always count on M&M's to deliver a multicolour display to your blog entry when everything else is dull and grey.

I made my way over to Paris Las Vegas. Remembered Kit's photo of this incredibly big replica of the Eiffel Tower. It really is big when you look at it, but no where as big as the real thing. Outside it looks like the Eiffel Tower got magically stuck into a Las Vegas Casino.

The Eiffel Tower in Vegas. It's hard to believe no?

Stating the obvious

Inside in the casino area, one can see the three remaining bases of the tower (one is prominently displayed at the front). There's an Eiffel Tower restaurant at the half way point up the tower. The place is so popular that you've got to put a reservation down first before you can even go up.

That's part of the Eiffel Tower sticking into the casino

Discovered the normal shopping area of Paris. Looks nice with quaint French architecture that copies a typical French village. There are more restaurants than actual shops in the area I walked. Bakeries are a dime in a dozen. Hence, I took the liberty to try a Salmon Sandwich from one (partly the other reason was I could not find any place to eat as it was lunch hour). Salmon tasted really nice though the bread by itself would have done just fine.

Paris has a very nice hotel lobby

Bedazzled by the interior deco of this place.

Where's les Toiletes?

Am I in France??

Bon appetite!

Nice little Deli in Paris called Lenotre

Spongebob may be American but that doesn't stop him from invading a toy store in "France".

I walked along a little further and found that Paris was connected to the next casino, Bally's. Didn't like Bally's, was all lights and nonsense. So I walked out and made my way over to the Venetian.

The biggest slot machine I have ever seen in Vegas. Lose your money in a BIG way TODAY!

Caesar works part time as a traffice cop when no is looking.

The Casino Royale is a small ol casino that is fighting to survive in an over populated strip

The Venetian is a different story altogether. Simply put, its got the best deco of the lot. Borrowing an Italian theme, the casino has its own mini-lake with working gondolas that look like they were transported straight out of Venice. I've heard that gondoliers are pretty good singers and are suppose to add ambience when a couple hops on board. When I first heard people singing, I thought it was pre-recorded tracks played while the gondolier rowed. Was shocked to find that they were actually singing for real!! You know all Opera-like. Truly amazing, multi-talented. Rowing boats and singing at the same time.

The magnificent Vanetian

Again stating the obvious

Fancy a gondola ride in Vegas?

An artistic shot of the poles near the gondolas.

There are so many nice places to shoot that anyone with a camera can pull off a pretty decent shot without much thought.

See what I mean?

Wow, aside from that the inside was fabulously decorated. The shops sold lots of nice stuff (at not so nice prices). But over all it was by far very nice. The inside really took on the look of a working section of Venice, with gondolas passing by man-made canals along rows of shops.

There are gondolas inside too. Check out the canals!

Saw this inside Brookstone (a shop selling supposedly high quality stuff). Check out the OSIM Uzap!! Now in Ang Moh flavour!! Check out the freaking price!!

And who can forget.....the iGallop!!! My gosh, there is no escaping this madness!!

Of course not everything inside is as tasteless as the items mentioned above. They have nice freaky looking dolls for your home too!! Shermaine you will love these!!

Why stop at dolls when you have a whole wall full of masks to look at!! Wasn't suppose to shoot this in the shop but I did so anyway. My apologies to the owner of the shop.

I somehow made my way over to the area where the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2007 was to be held. Could see lots of ppl with tags hopping around. Making me worried since I don't have mine. Will get it tomorrow. Anyways, that is all for today. Need sleep.