Malaysia LAH!

In case you don't understand the title, its actually the name of an event organized by a bunch of energetic / crazee PR students from SEGi UC. And no, this is not another post where i bash fellow Malaysians being plain silly in their idiosyncrasies. May be an upcoming post. :-)

As i was saying, these crazily creative bunch of students came up with the superb-est idea or youths to express their point of view on being true Malaysians and decided to organize it secara besar-besaran at a shopping mall in Mutiara Damansara!

What began as an idea for their class assignment soon became a government tool to engage with the youths for a better understanding on what they think makes Malaysia, so to speak. LOL

Tag-lined: STOP. STAND. SALUTE. , this event hopes to bring everyone at the mall to a standstill at a designated time. Sounds intersting, doesn't it?

Well, to satisfy your curiosity, come on over to the event and support them students with a 1Malaysia spirit!

Details are:

Malaysian-LAH campaign
e@Curve, Mutiara Damansara
3rd April 2010
11am - 6pm

"STOP. STAND. SALUTE."

Again, just so that we are on the same page, this is NOT a political campaign to woo voters but an honest effort by the students of the SEGi UC DIPMC PR programme, aimed to express the youths' point of view of being true Malaysians. :)

Among the highlights of the event are fun games and activities like Snake and Ladder, (think big dice and large floor maps) and Picture Quest. What's more, a little birdie told me to expect a "flash mob" in a unique 1Malaysia fashion! =D

There will also be a teen forum with distinguished guest panel like famed Sepet actress Sharifah Amani, Executive Editor Lifestyle and new media for Malaymail Irwan Abdul Rahman, award winning lyricist and local TV star Pete Teo, comedian Andrew Netto, and the beautiful Jojo Straus.

Not to be missed are special performances by local artistes and budding talents like Danell Lee, Drumline by St. John, KLG, Joe Flizzow, and local band An Honest Mistake. If that's not enough to get you going to the event, just decide for yourselves that you want to go for lunch or shopping at the Curve and then accidentally swing over to e@Curve just to see what all the commotion is about LAH! *winks*

Im sure this event will be happening with a bang, so you guys better go check it out! XD

As usual, for more information:

Visit the LAH blog, www.campaign-malaysianlah.blogspot.com.

Follow on twitter : www.twitter.com/malaysianlah

Or go sibuk on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=282589724377

Cya!

Int. Book Fair @ PWTC 2010

It was a busy weekend for me, with ching ming (Chinese All Soul's Day), kendo, paintball, church, family, my Pengetua's daughter's 21st birthday kenduri in UKM all having some part of my life. So when i eventually got a window opportunity for a break on that Sunday afternoon, i jumped on the chance to to visit the 29th International Book Fair at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), KL.

It's my FIRST time visiting the book fair, actually. I went with high expectations. Like really high. REALLY REALLY HIGH EXPECTATIONS.

Not only did reality miss my expectations, what i saw confused me even more.

There were so many people there (which is a given, since its the last day) and most of them were Malays. Please you guys, don't take this the wrong way, but there were very few other races around, hardly any of them in sight, save for the book publishers.

Now, why is that so? This was what spun my mind.

Of all the 3 floors of exhibitions, the two lower ones were full of Malay reading material -- books, magazines, exercise books -- you name it, they got it lah! So confusion #1. is that why does it have so many Malay/local reading material when it's called an INTERNATIONAL Book Fair?

Perhaps the majority of Malaysia is 60% Malays.

Even so, as i entered PWTC from Pan Pacific side, the small rooms along the corridors were made into small bazaar like stalls, where Bumi (more) and non-Bumi entrepreneurs are seen selling thing totally UNRELATED to books or reading!

Cookies. Tudungs (women's head scarfs). Womens accessories. Arts and crafts. Indie made Tshirts going for RM10. Even tables were set up to register for "Bagaimana hendak membina laman web sendiri dan menjadi kaya: Tips daripada usahawan Web" workshops. @_@

The only one thing that seems in place, although unrelated to reading (like, seriously), is the foot massage booth set up by the Malaysian Assoc. for the Blind (MAB) where foot-weary visitors can get a superb foot massage by visually impaired masseurs for a decent price. It generates awareness for the MAB too. So thumbs up to that!

But the rest... [dots]. Duno hey can even make money to cover the rent onot. Sigh.

After passing through the corridors of horror, i came to 1st hall of dread. Ushers cooed visitors into the hall and i got caught in the crowd. Kinda like in PC fairs. T.T

When i saw KARANGKRAF everywhere: the entrance, the wall, the booths, even hanging form the ceiling, i terus U-Turn get out the entrance, which was a no exit btw. But who cares? I wasn't gonna wade thru the crowd JUST TO GET OUT THE OTHER SIDE. T__T

Went up the escalator, i made my way to the main layout. Horror. All local publications. Then i decided to give up reading the Map of Horror and enter into the hall of dread No2. In here, more horror. Almost all booths selling how-to-study-better books for toddler. Those study modules with CDs for smarter learning. As if with CD, everyone will become smarter. SIGH.

Quickly browsed through every booth; i made a systematic sweep anti clock wise from where i entered and spiraled inward when i made a full turn around the hall. This is brisk walking and fast skimming all in one. Ideal for when in halls of horror like this.

I got lucky when i came upon this. I HAD to take a mission impossible shot at it. Look:

Local authors and publishers, publishing HOW TO books like HOW TO USE FACEBOOK, HOW TO DOWNLOAD STUFF, and HOW TO BLOG. Like ohemmmgeeeeeeeeeee. What is happening?! This is a pure rip off to the their target audience. Guess who? (no prizes for right answers =] )

It was so appallingly funny, i couldn't help myself from taking this photo. Then walk away, LOL-ing to myself. EPIC la.

Anyway, i finally found what i was looking for. Up another escalator to the 4th floor! International publishers with ENGLISH books!! My eyes like almost glistening with tears of joy...
*anime eyes*

But as if a kite just pushed up into the sky suddenly crashing into the ground, my hopes were dashed as soon as i picked up the first book from the shelf. It had no price tag. And even if it had, it was so the insanely expensive wan! That's the discounted price samo. If the real price, i can stonned there for 10 secs. T__T

So that was pretty much my 1st time experience in a nutshell. Some books nice, some books horror. Some have price tag, but the price so unbelievable. Others no price tag, but the booth attend face so grumpy, so dowan to enquire price. So, like that lor. =/

...

But all wasn't lost. On my way out, i realize i passed my favorite booth on the way in!

Aaaaaah.... the lelong booth! Don't you just love the RM5 and 3 for RM10 signs?! LOL

In all seriousness, this was the only booth which i found stuff for my money's worth, and stuff that's worth my money too. =D

So after diligently going through umpteen many rows of backdated magz, i finally contended with three of the below:

Men's Health 09 and Good HouseKeeping 09. What a good combination, kan? LOL

Well, all in all, a good experience, but it won't be likely to catch me in one of them fairs like these in a looooooooooooong time.

Perhaps when they actually have more International ENGLISH books (with better prices), i may consider. :-P

Off to the Pearl of the Orient

When work calls... i answer.

Here i come! =D

Ill be at Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Batu Feringgi, Penang.

Blog will be updated as usual. Magically. LOL

Ta~!

1st Asia Kyokushin Karate Championship Press Con.

I was fortunate to be invited to the 1st All Asia Open Kyokushin-Kan Championship 2010 press conference by Kimberly Chun last Thursday. It was a FB notification and i misread the message from "tics2give out" to "TWO tics left to give out". So i instantly jumped on chance when i learnt it was at Radius International Hotel, off Jalan Alor.

The Ultimate Karate Revealed. The Strongest Karate.

Those were the very words used on the backdrop at the PC. Might words, i thought.



You see, although i have had some experience in TaeKwonDo when i was younger, i had no idea what Kyokushin-kan karate, being a full contact, martial art was all about. It was here that i found out that Kyokushin-kan karate is an extreme martial art -- a form a karate -- where competitors spar full-contact and knockouts are allowed as a winning criteria. FYI, knockouts as in K.O. like you see in boxing, where they fall flat on their faces.

While unknown to most people, Kyokushin-kan karate has been around over the past 40 years. Its appeal is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline, and hard training, which garnered more than 12 million Kyokushin practitioners world wide.



To explain more, Sensei Micheal Ding, Branch Chief of Kyokushin-kan Organisation of Malaysia, shared with the members of the media present, his experiences in the art and the humble beginnings of Kyokushin-kan karate in Malaysia. The growth of interest of this unique, full contact martial art in the country has spurred the idea of an All Asia Champhionship to be held right here, in Cheras, in two weeks.

The championship will see Kyukushin-kan karate competitors from 21 countries -- Japan,
Kazakhstan, Iran, Korea, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Russia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Jordan, and MALAYSIA -- with the first three countries contributing the largest amount of competitors.

The flagship event which took a year to plan, comprises of male and female categories by weight: below 65kg, below 72 kg, below 83kg, open weight, and kata category (technique). Sensei Michael explains further that the mechanics of the competition involves two competitors engaging in free sparring for a limited time and the winner is determined by a knowckdown, which means the first competitor who causes the opponent to fall down within the time limit, and the opponent is not able to stand to continue the match.

"The ultimate goal is a knockdown, which would secure a win. Otherwise, the judges will decide and points be awarded according to technique and spirit aka aggressiveness", explains Sensei Michael. "In the event of a draw, the decision will be achieved through tameshiwari or the breaking of wooden boards -- the one who breaks the most boards wins."

The All Asia Open Kyokushin-kan Championship 2010 is also supported by Mr. Chris Tan, the founder of K3, an up and coming apparel and marketing company. Chris, besides sponsoring the championship, is an avid practitioner of other forms of Karate and has recently turned to Kyukoshin-kan karate. It is no surprise to learn that he will also represent Malaysia in the championship, along with eight other practitioners.

He shared his experiences of his first time training in Kyokushin-kan Karate and how he hoped to generate more awareness about the art among Malaysians through this championship. He says as this art is a very in-your-face kinda maryial art, it is very practical for self defense in Malaysia, especially when news about snatch thieves and assaults are rampantly appearing on front pages of local dailies.

Just before the press conference adjourned to lunch, we were given a glimpse of Kyokushin-kan Karate in action! Ms. Yu Man (in 1st pic above), who is the only female Kyokushin-kan practitioner to represent the country with Chris and seven others Malaysians in the championships, showed us a few moves, which i think if i kena, sure pengsan wan. =D

More on that soon, but for now, here's the championship details:

1st All Asia Open Kyokushin-kan Championship 2010
20-21 March 2010
Cheras Badminton Stadium
10am - 6pm

Entry tickets are available at the venue on the event day. Location easily accessible via STAR LRT, alight at Maluri Station, a 10 mins walk. The championship is sponsored by k3 and Horleys, the specialist in sports nutrition and dietary supplements.

If you're free and game for some raw knuckle action, See you there! =D

~ next up, Kyokushin-kan Karate Demo