My Honest Afterthoughts On MDG So, season one of Malaysian Dreamgirl is finally over. The eventual winner of the Nissan Latio and RM10,000 Ambank Mastercard is none other than Cindy Tey. There was a bit of a discontent among the viewers after the winner was announced. Eventhough Cindy won by the most votes, it was pretty clear she wasn't the most popular among the viewing public. But in the end, votes are votes, rules are rules and it would be terribly unfair if we were to change the rules halfway through the competition. Nonetheless, we learnt a great deal in making this series. Malaysian Dreamgirl has been an extraordinary journey. It has been an incredible experience not just for the 12 girls who participated in the contest, not just for the thousands watching it worldwide, but also for all of us in the cast and crew who were involved in the production of this show. There is a lot I wanted to say about the show. The truth is, I've been waiting a long time to write this because there are a lot of things I wanted to get off my chest regarding MDG, but somehow I just feel like it isn't appropriate to voice it out when the show was still going on. But now, I want to say my piece. I first heard about Malaysian Dreamgirl back in December 2007. Back then, no one knew what the show is about or what it is going to be like, except for the fact that MDG is gonna be the country's first online reality model search. Nuffnang was the one who brokered the deal between myself and Capxion Media. Over coffee, Capxion CEO Jerad and Program Director Edmund gave me a rundown about what their plan for this online reality show is. To be honest, the first time I hear it, I couldn't help but to feel a bit skeptical. A show that is broadcasted completely online? Not even on TV? Isn't that a bit risky? What are these people thinking? Who is gonna spend 30 minutes sitting in front of their bloody computer watching a reality show about some model search, when the TV screen is larger and infinitely more comfortable? Why broadcast the show over the Internet? How are they gonna handle the bandwidth costs? There is just too much unknown. I could see it on his face. Jerad must have heard the same skepticism from the people he spoke to a hundred times over. The fact of the matter is: nothing like this has ever been done in Malaysia before. Malaysian Dreamgirl back in December 2007 was like one big blur of unknown. Capxion Media was a brand new company and the people behind it had close to zero experience in producing any form of television show before. Let alone one that is gonna be broadcasted exclusively over the Internet. There were big challenges in front of them, and the chances of them failing is very, very high. I wasn't confident in their project at first. But a part of me couldn't help but be impressed with their idea. These people are creative. Creative people innovate. Creative people take risks when everybody else looked at it and said "No, I am too chicken to do it." Despite my initial skepticism, by the end of our conversation, Capxion Media had me convinced to work with them. Jerad and his team had put together a plan that is downright impressive and virtually infallible. When I listened to him answer my questions without a shred of uncertainty, I couldn't help but be amazed at how they managed to have a solution for every single problem that I raised. Even more surprising is how they managed to attract so many sponsors for something that has never been done before. I told Edmund, for my own sake, that I would not take part a project that is doomed to fail. But now that they had convinced me how worthwhile this project, the only thing I want to see is Malaysian Dreamgirl suceeding. I said that with all honesty and sincerity because I share their dreams. I want to see good quality Malaysian content on the Internet. And I would do my best to ensure good quality Malaysian content is recognised the whole world over. Thus, "Kenny Sia the MDG Judge" is born. In my first entry about MDG, I mentioned that I was put on as a judge to represent the views of the average joes. But of course we all know that that's not true. It is no secret to anyone that when Capxion Media hired me to become the judge for MDG that it was more for marketing reasons than anything else. Let's face it, I don't know how to sing, don't know how to act, never been in front of the camera except for a pathetic stint Deal Or No Deal. So who am I kidding? The only reason why I am on the judging panel for MDG is because I have a blog that is read by many, and Capxion Media wanted to leverage on that. Now, depending on how you look at it, Kenny Sia being on Malaysian Dreamgirl can be a good thing or a bad thing. It is a good thing, because this is the first time ever a blogger in Malaysia has been asked to go on a reality show, purely because he is recognizable as a blogger. I don't know any other company who is willing take the risk putting somebody who has no acting/hosting/modelling skills whatsoever in front of the camera. Especially in one of their first projects. It is also a bad thing, because as many critics noticed, without any acting or hosting experience under my belt, people may not warm up to watching me on screen. But I guess, everybody has to start somewhere right? My actions and words irked a lot of people during the auditions in Episode 1. I was called all sorts of names by the viewers. The general consensus was that Kenny Sia as the MDG Judge comes across as a horny guy who was overly excited everytime he sees a girl wearing short skirts coming to audition, as well as one that is utterly ruthless towards unattractive girls who don't make an effort. And their judgment would be right. :) That's exactly what my character should be isn't it? If you put an average joe on a modelling contest where all the girls are dressed to kill, of course he's gonna get damn excited when hot chicks wearing skimpy clothings come through lah. No average joe is gonna sit still and behave themselves. Unless they're monks lah. MDG Self-Portrait: This is what each girl drew of themselves. Blindfolded. You wouldn't imagine how many hate mails I received after that episode. Kenny Sia as an MDG judge was rude and not a very popular person. But there are reasons why I did what I did. My self-portrait the MDG girls asked me to draw, blindfolded Firstly, I was playing a character, and I wanted it to be a memorable character. Because it was our first episode, I needed to make an impact. Controversy creates cash. No publicity is bad publicity. If there are people out there talking about what a horrible person I was, then that is a good thing for the show. Secondly, it was to sensationalize the show. How boring would the auditions be if every judge were diplomatic in their words for fear of hurting girl's feelings? Elaine and Jimmy cannot afford to be too harsh on these girls because they have a reputation in their profession that they need to protect. One is a former Miss Malaysia, and the other is well-known in the fashion industry. The only person left to do the job is me. And I don't mind because I always wanted to play the role of a bad guy. :) But of course, now that the show is over, there are some apologies I think I owe certain people. To the girl who auditioned in the green floral jacket, to the girl who wore the black sexy two-piece clubbing gear, to the girl whose face I said was too oily, I am sorry. To Giselle the kindergarten teacher, I am sorry. And I am even more sorry that I talked about you on my website. It happened because you were such a great potential and yet you didn't get through. Although I did tell you the reasons why you didn't make it, that was not broadcasted in Episode 2. And the people were confused and upset and questioning our decisions. I should have explained politely, instead of getting in character as "Kenny Sia the mean judge" and wrote what I wrote. And for that I am sorry. The crew behind Malaysian Dreamgirl took it upon themselves to listen to all the feedback online and they strived to improve in the production of every episode. If you watched Episode 1 versus Episode 16, you'll notice a world of difference in the production quality. Being part of the show, I sometimes felt that there was more dramas behind the scenes than in front of it. Sometimes it's difficult for the cameras to capture everything. Even during the audition stages, the amount of unflattering nicknames thrown around was incredible. I swear if we were to show what actually happened behind the scenes, we are so gonna get in to trouble. People are gonna riot all the way to Capxion Media's office. Among some of the nicknames given was "Senget Face", "Klingon", "A Box With Four Things Sticking Out", "Pau Face", "Drug Addict". Of course I ain't gonna reveal who these nicknames refer to. Otherwise I might get another "Giselle backlash" online. Reality shows are weird, and the people behind reality shows are even weirder. I remember in the photoshoot for Women'Secret, Cindy broke down and cried profusely because she wasn't happy with her performance. I was there at the scene and I was the first to notice her outburst of emotions. By right, the normal thing to do is for me to go over, show my concerns and ask her what's wrong. But because we're shooting a reality show, my immediate first reaction was "QUICK! QUICK! WHERE IS THE CAMERA!" Looking back, that was kinda cruel. Jay's latest photoshoot is titled "Woman With Face Cramps" But I must say, I have a lot of fun doing the show. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say a big thank you to Capxion Media, especially to Jerad and Edmund for giving me an opportunity to become part of the show. Thank you for having the confidence in me, flying me all the way from Kuching to KL and putting me in front of the camera knowing full well that I have no experience whatsover doing something like this at all. Thank you to the Top 12 finalists, who have been so fantastic and so cooperative. I still have butterflies in my stomach thinking back to that evening when Ash Nair, Jonathan Putra, Hansen Lee and myself were invited over to your place for a candlelight dinner. It was like in heaven, surrounded by such beautiful ladies who cooked and fed and entertained us. If Malaysian Dreamgirl were about the search for the perfect partner, you'll all be winners already. Now that each of you have turned into mini-celebrities of your own, I have no doubt that you will all find success in your dream job in the near future. Lastly, thank you to everyone who watched Malaysian Dreamgirl and accepted me for playing my role in front of the camera. I know I had riled a lot of viewers up with my character. But don't worry, the producers have not approached me to do Season Two yet, so my involvement in future episodes is up in the air. ;) Together, we have managed to create something so truly sensational. Never in my life have I seen a locally-produced ONLINE series that has created so much hype, that is so widely followed around the world, evoked so much emotions among the viewers and produced so many addicts who faithfully logged on to the website every Thursday and Saturday to catch the latest episodes. I know of even Americans, Singaporeans, Australians who sent in SMSes to vote for their favourite contestants. Imagine that! The cult following that resulted from the show went absolutely above and beyond our imaginations. And yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg for our uniquely Malaysian made content. Season Two of MDG will definitely be bigger, better and a lot more exciting than what we just saw. It was such a proud moment for me watching the Top 12 strutting their stuff on the catwalk at the MDG Grand Finale. I felt as if I was their DAD watching his 12 daughters all grown up. Wtf like attending their graduation ceremony liddat. But nothing beat the BEST moment for me during the Grand Finale. I actually met my SUPER DUPER BIGGEST IDOL EVER in my entire life. Cindy's Dad! THE LEGEND HIMSELF. OMG. But you know what? Meeting the man himself was not the coolest thing that happened that night. Guess what the COOLEST thing was? I got his autograph! Oh yeah baby, who wants a piece of this? RM500 please.What is happening to the Malaysian Dreamgirl finalists now that the competition is over? Thanks to blogging, everyone can now follow their lives online. Apart from Cindy's hotpinkchili.blogspot.com and Ringo's cheeserland.com, crowd favourites Adeline Lee, Jay Logan and Hanis Zalikha have also started their own websites. And they write pretty damn good too! Beauty and brains, lethal combo lah. Khairy Is My Friend Dun pray pray. My friend punya wife punya father is the Prime Minister of Malaysia, ok? If you hit me, I can call my friend to call his wife to call her father to soot you kao kao one, ok? He Prime Minister, ok? Who wants to touch me now?All-In-One Plugs: I'm getting massive amounts of requests from people wanting me to publish something to promote various causes / look for missing people / donate to certain charity. Suddenly kennysia.com became noticeboard.com. It's too many requests for me to handle and they are all important, so I'm putting them here all in one big breath. Here goes. Donate to Myanmar. Find Low Le Xuan. Save our sharks. Help Phu Thien Nhan. Assist Young Visionaries. Watch a Japanese Jazz Concert for charity! Learn to cook pasta for charity! Run the Borneo Marathon for charity! Yeah! ADV: My Black Challenge The words on the pamphlet challenge me, "Could this be your big break?" This isn't a game of ordinary pool. They called it the 9-ball speed pool. The rules of the game sounded simple. This is a game of speed and accuracy. Nine balls are placed on the pool table like that: six close to the pocket, and the other three evenly spreaded out across the centre. To start, you can place the white cue ball anywhere you want. The clock starts as soon as you strike the cue ball. The clock stops when you pocket your last ball. The person who pockets all 9 ball in the fastest time wins. This competition is put together by GUINNESS® in search for the best amateur 9-ball speed pool player in Asia. GUINNESS® Black Challenge team right now are touring the whole of Malaysia, running speed pool challenges across 112 nights in 56 outlets in search for Malaysia's fastest speed pool player. The fastest in each outlet advances to the regional playoffs. The winner in the regional playoffs advances to the national finals held in Genting Highlands this 31st May. The winner of the national finals will then go on to represent Malaysia in the International GUINNESS® Black Challenge to be held in Jakarta this October in conjunction with GUINNESS® 9-Ball Tour Grand Final, Asia's most prestigious pool championship. All expenses paid, of course! Anyone can join the challenge. The only condition being that you purchase a pint of GUINNESS® Draught or Foreign Extra Stout bottle at their participating outlets during contest days. Even if you don't feel like playing speed pool, you could still dip your hand in the hole to win RM100 cash or other exclusive limited edition GUINNESS® 9-Ball Tour merchandise. Me being me, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a shot at Greatness. Besides, how difficult could speed pool be anyway? I mean, 6 of the 9 balls are already close to the pocket so all I gotta worry is the other 3. It's been a while since I practised playing pool, but I think I can still aim with my stick. I chalked my cue stick and took it to the table. Time to put my pool skills to a test. By "pool skills", I meant "poor skills". Speed pool isn't as easy as it looks. Time is critical so I can't spent too much time pondering my next move. The worst thing is, I panicked. And because I panicked, I had trouble holding my stick still. My balls kept bouncing all over the place. In the end, I only managed to pocket all my balls in 2 minutes 33 seconds. Surprisingly, the official told me that I had made a new GUINNESS® record! Record for LONGEST time taken to complete a game of speed pool. Another participant that night fared slightly better than me. He completed the game in 1 minute 2 seconds. The guy ended up becoming the fastest player of that night. As a reward for his efforts, he won 10 pints of GUINNESS® Draughts, limited edition GUINNESS® 9-Ball Tour merchandise and on top of that, he will be advancing to the regional finals. This guy has gotta buck up if he wanna go any further though. The fastest time achieved thus far in the Malaysian leg of the tour is just under 40 seconds. Whoever that guy is, he must be really good with his stick and balls. The preliminary rounds of the GUINNESS® Black Challenge is gonna continue on from now until the end of May at the official outlets above. It will be tough to beat the current top marks of 40 seconds in a game of 9-ball speed pool. Whatever it is, take comfort in knowing that no matter what you do, you're gonna easily beat my pathetic time of 2 minutes 33 seconds. Just remember to hold your stick steady.Book Recommendation: The Twisted Stethescope by Penang Medical College student Jason Leong is a autobiography about his experience studying abroad in Ireland. Malaysian kids like myself, who spent our coming of age in angmoh countries would definitely identify with what Jason Leong went through. It's funny because it's real. And Jason's book is quite a light-hearted read if you enjoy the type of humour that I do. Politician-Turned-Bloggers This blog entry is dedicated to the stubborn Raja Petra of malaysia-today.net, who refused to post bail for his sedition charge, and chose instead to sit in jail. It's amazing how one election could change so many things. Before the elections, bloggers were condemned by government officials as if they were scums of the Earth on par with child rapists and mass murderers. One guy named Khairy even compared bloggers to monkeys. After the elections, suddenly we have monkeys invading the parliament along with his friend, Big Foot. Before the elections, politicians who blog are mostly those from the opposition parties. Most famously, leaders Lim Kit Siang and Anwar Ibrahim. After the elections, even those big shots in the ruling party jumped on the blogging bandwagon. These past two months alone, we have seen an ex-Selangor MB, the current Malacca CM and the current UMNO Information Chief all starting their own blogs. The biggest news last week is that our former Prime Minister himself Tun Dr Mahathir has turned into a blogger as well. So now kids, if anybody tries to tell you that blogging is a waste of time, feel free to say, "But Dr M also does it leh!" Of course, there is a huge difference in the way these political heavyweights blog compared to the way that we from the younger generation do so. For example, these political leaders don't talk about what they have for lunch, which celebrities they met up with, or how many pink stuff from Juicy Couture they bought. These people tackle the big issues, using head-spinning words like "judicial appointment" and "press freedom" and "rising crude oil prices." Younger bloggers like us simply don't write much of such stuff at all. What I am saying to these politician-turned-bloggers is, they should really lighten up themselves. Blogging is not just about "changing the political landscape" and all that. It's also about meeting new friends, doing crazy things and having fun. And these people don't do enough of that at all. I mean, you are never gonna see Lim Kit Siang camwhoring like this on his blog. Or stupid commenters like this in Dr Mahathir's blog. Most definitely you are not gonna see Anwar joining some silly "I Sleep Better With Chipster" blog contest. Still, I welcome these politicians joining our blogging community. Because previously, when you say "bloggers", you immediately think bored teenage boys or attention-seeking schoolgirls putting 101 camwhoring photos of themselves in skimpy outfits. As early as 2 years ago, parents used to really hate their kids blogging. But now, we have old politicians whose average age is 60 years old calling themselves bloggers! I think that's a good thing. Old people using new technology is always cool. I just wish they could be more like friends with us younger bloggers, you know? Stop bashing your political rivals for once, and start coming to our blogger gatherings for a change. There's so much that we can show you. Maybe sign up with Nuffnang or something. Whoa, if that happens, then maybe next year's Nuffnang Bloggers Pajama Party is gonna look like this. Ok, maybe not.AD: Alright, I'm doing this for the girls because I know you all like to look at pretty clothes and buy them online. There's a very popular local website called PotatoCream.com that sells nice girly apparels at really affordable prices. The people behind this online shop are friendly, and payment is also ridiculously simple. I saw lots of chic dresses on sale for less than RM50. More of a reason for you girls to go ahead and splurge on all your girly shopping at PotatoCream. Three Years Dear Papa, Today is exactly three years since you're gone. How have you been? A lot has happened since I last wrote to you. Kuching has changed quite a fair bit here and there. There's been a lot of development, especially on the retail side. Yes, I know. ;) But don't you worry, Papa. Competition is always healthy and we've been doing many things to improve ourselves. There's a lot of new things to try out in Kuching now. Guess what? Even your favourite coffee Starbucks has opened up two outlets here. If you're around, I'm sure you'll be ordering takeaways from there everyday. Do you get to read newspapers up there? Do you see the tribute I wrote for you in the papers. I hope you like it. I wonder what kind of news they publish in the papers you get up there. I certainly hope they are not as biased as the ones we have here. ;) Have you heard? BN lost heaps of seats in the last general election. Anwar's wife is now Opposition Leader. Lim Guan Eng has gone from jail to Penang Chief Minister. And Chong Chieng Jen is still the only DAP MP from Sarawak. Wonder what you think about that? The government are kinda blaming bloggers for the political change. Although since the elections, people are paying more attention to us. Many of the older people have started blogging. Even Dr Mahathir himself has hopped on the bandwagon. Can you imagine that? Haha. Sister and her family is doing fantastic in New Zealand. We went over to visit her during Chinese New Year. It's been such a long time since we had a family reunion. We used to do it so often when you're around. I really miss those times. Baby Lecia is growing up just fine. She seems to cry a lot though. But she's very cute even when she cries. Won't you love to hold her tight? Don't worry about Jayden and Kirsten. They are goofy as always. As for me, life has kinda turned on its head lately. Lately I've been getting a lot busier than ever. In the office, I'm diligently learning the ropes from my seniors, learning all the tips and tricks they use in business, learning how to negotiate a deal, as well as understanding all the legal and accounting terms involved. Since the beginning of the year, I'm also getting invites to speak at various events left right and centre. There's a lot of job opportunities that have come in for me, so much so that I had to turn down most of them either because I don't have time, or because I couldn't take leave off work. I guess the good thing is that I'm getting a lot of recognition for what I do. On the downside, I am in danger of turning into a workaholic. As soon as I got home from the office, I'm in front of the computer again, replying e-mails and keeping up with my deadlines. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy what I do very much. The income is great and the people I've been meeting are wonderful. I just think that it is difficult being a 25 year old and having to juggle so many responsibilities at the same time. But then again, who am I to complain right? I'm sure life for you was even more difficult back then you were 25. I know, I know. :) Back in those days, there were no mobile phones, no internet. You have to take care of your siblings when Grandpa and Grandma were at work. We don't have to worry about those things now. We are incredibly lucky. And of course I appreciate it, Papa. Thank you for working so hard when you were young. Else, we wouldn't have enjoyed the life that we have today. The more I think about it, the more thankful I am to you. In a lot of the interviews I did, people ask me who my biggest influence is, and I never hesitated a bit to say that it is you. Come to think of it, I started blogging indirectly because of you too. Now that I've found success in what I do, I stay motivated with you as my inspiration. Sometimes when I'm pulling my hair out stressing over the things I had to do, I think back at the image of you sitting alone at the study room at 1am, cigarette in hand, carefully looking through all the paperwork you pulled out of your briefcase. That image of you is still so vivid in my head. And suddenly, it seems like my worries are all so incomparably small. As I face new challenges each day, I look back at your life knowing that you have faced far greater challenges before, and that you never let them bring you down. Sometimes I wonder how you managed it. How are you able to find a woman like mom, who is so incredibly loving and supportive of what you do? You spent so much time at work, yet everytime you come home, mom has given you the best home possible. I find that difficult to comprehend sometimes. A lot of women these days don't like workaholic career-minded men. They think they would always be competing for their time and attention, yet they don't seem to understand that a lot of what we do are for a better future. I guess I knew why you married mom. Women like her are indeed rare these days. It has been three years since you left us. The world has changed a lot around us. Papa, the one thing that has remained unchanged is my admiration and adolation towards you as my father. Eventhough I feel sad sometimes that I don't have a father to go to when I'm lost, I am grateful that you have done so much for us already when you were around. Thank you for all that you have done. Thank you for all that you have taught us. I want you to know that you are the guiding compass in my life. And you are the perfect blueprint of the man I want to be when I grow up. Don't worry, papa. I will take care of mom. I will be humble. I will respect and treat my friends well. And I will keep my feet firmly on the ground as my hands reach for the stars. You have my word on that. Until next time, please take care of yourself. Stop smoking so much already and eat more healthy food, alright? :) We love you always and we miss you very much. Lots of love, Your youngest son Kenny CLEO Bachelor Bashed It was such an honour. Thank you to everyone who voted me to become your 2008 CLEO Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year. I also would like to thank my fudder, my mudder, my brudder, my sistur and all my flengs out there. Without your support, I would never stand on stage as one of the finalists in this beauty contest for men. Unfortunately I did not win. That title deservingly went to Bachelor #8 Brian Lau. Sorry. Of course lah, I never expected to win anything anyway. Everyone was out to put on a good show and have a good time, and we've certainly achieved that. Everyone had a rocking evening at Zouk last Friday. Not to mention, the girls who came that night were all superbly hot and dressed to kill. The unofficial dress code for the night were tight dresses and very very very very short skirts. Kudos to the coordinators from CLEO magazine for putting together this fantastic show. For one, it's not an easy task getting 50 grown men listen to you. When you said "LINE UP!", you get 25 bachelors obediently lining up, while the other 25 bachelors were just laying around without a care in the world. When you said, "Odd number stand to the left. Even number stand to my right", you get questions like "Har? What odd? What even?" It was worse than giving instructions to a bunch of kindergarten kids. I kept remarking to the guys backstage about how unmanly it is that a bunch of straight guys like us are joining this beauty contest for men. All the bachelors have this ridiculous facial expression when they put on make-up. Bachelor #1 Bonnie Arthur de Souza Still, the guys were great fun to hang around with. Despite the fact that we are all fighting to become Malaysia's Most Beautiful Man, the atmosphere backstage was like one big frat party. It was really weird. One moment, you see us macho men doing girlie stuff like putting on make-up, foundation and lipstick. Bachelor #10 Afiezan Shah getting his hair done Next moment, you see us flexing our muscles, talking about masculine stuff like paintballing, mountain-climbing and drunken sex parties overseas. Bachelor #10 Afiezan Shah, Bachelor #15 Jasvinder Singh and Bachelor #29 Afshin Helmitabrizi But seriously though, and I say this in the most non-gay way possible, the guys in the CLEO's 50 Most Eligible bachelor list are all really hot. One look at this bunch and I know I have no chance of winning. Look at those CLEO hot knockouts getting ready to put on a show! I thought I might have a chance against Bachelor #42 Johann Lim with his funny moustache. But most people would still say he's better looking than me. Anyway, Johann didn't tell me exactly what character he's playing that requires a funny moustache like that. Maybe it's for a Malaysian version of The Godfather. In that case, the official title of the show would be "Ayah Angkat". Last year's winner for CLEO Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year, Christian Neal Capes, came up to me backstage and gave me his personal stamp of approval. It's quite an honour to be endorsed by last year's winner, but I told him there's really no chance I am ever gonna win despite my large readership. There are 49 other guys all so much more beautiful than I am. If there's a category for Most Cuddly Bachelor, I will win for sure. This is the editor of CLEO Malaysia, Lynette Ow. I half-expected the editor of Malaysia's most popular female magazine to look like some middle-aged high-school teacher barking out orders every 2 minutes. What a surprise to see her holding such a stressful job, yet still managed to look so young, hot and sassy. Babes galore! Stephanie Chai and Christy Yeoh dropped by for support. With hotties like that in attendance, we're all winners already. Emcee of the evening and Mix.fm DJ Serena C with her pouty lips dangerously close to mine. Christian Neal Capes in the background making sure there's no contact. I seriously have no idea why he pulled a face like that. He looked as if somebody stepped on his balls. Cheesie, fresh out of the Malaysian Dreamgirl house after losing quite a bit of weight, but still looking better than ever. Feeling the love with Pinkpau and IcyQueenGoddess . Su Ann is so on the roll! She came to support me for CLEO Bachelor Bash on Friday night, left for Bangkok early next morning, returned to KL only on Tuesday night just in time to support me again for our Malaysian Dreamgirl Grand Finale! There were cheesy one liners aplenty throughout the evening. During our opening gambit, each bachelor has to go up on stage to introduce themselves, followed by some corny pick-up line. My favourite was Adam Lobo's, "You know the reason for global warming? That's because I'm too hot!" Musician bachelors #3 Ebi Kornelis and #6 Adam Lobo chilling backstage My line was "I know I'm a little bit chubby... but that just means there's more of me to love!" Dry humour, I know. But that's Kenny Sia for ya. ;) For those who were there, thank you for the defeaningly loud cheers that night, especially to naeboo who virtually screamed her lungs out. That girl went all out and screamed "KENNY SIA! YOU MADE ME WET MY PANTIES!!!!" It made me even more nervous ok. Renee, my MMU Melaka prom date, knocking me out Anyway, like I said, I didn't go home with the big prize or win any subsidiary titles. I know this sounds loser-ish, but it's not all about winning. The important thing is that everyone had a good laugh watching the bachelors making a fool out of themselves with their stupid acting and their bombastic dance moves during the interactive games they play with the audience. The game I had to play was called "Private Video". I have no idea why I was assigned for this game, but that's probably my punishment for making fun of Chua Soi Lek. In this game, I had to dance with a girl from the audience to Madonna's Vogue, in the most ridiculous fashion possible. Anyway, I tried searching online but I couldn't find any photos of me dancing. Must be because I did so badly until people are too horrified to react. Still, a friend noted that I got the loudest cheer among the crowd. Whoa! That in itself was a big enough reward already. At least I know there is now hope for fat boys like me joining beauty contests. The fantastic night ended pretty early around 12 midnight. One thing for sure, I'd like to see more bloggers joining CLEO Bachelor next year! Nomination for the 2009 CLEO 50 Most Eligible Bachelor is now open, and I'm pretty sure there are heaps of good potential in the Malaysian blogging community. Like this guy right here. HINT: Timothy Tiah. You should join.- Karma Point Collection: Rock Up! 2008 is a charity event to raise funds for Agathians shelter. Be at The Curve, Friday next week from 12noon to watch music performances, charity auctions and celebrity apperances. - My lack of sleep and constant travelling has brought me down with a bad fever and cough. More updates when I'm feeling better. kennysia.com Goes Mobile Attention, ladies and germs. Behold! Feast your eyes on the brand new mobile edition of kennysia.com! It's new. It's live. It's available right now on your mobile phones at m.kennysia.com! Now this is actually something I've been desperately wanting to do for a long time, but never had the time to do so until recently. With the introduction of Maxis 3G in Kuching and throughout Malaysia, a lot of people are now using their mobile phones to go online. I know because since I switched over to Maxis and hooked up with one of their Maxis mobile browsing plans, I find myself going online everywhere I go, all the time. It's really useful. Most of the time I'd use my phone to check e-mails or read up on blog comments whenever I'm on the run. More recently, I've been using it to surf news sites like Malaysiakini.com, especially during election time when I wanna be informed immediately which seats have fallen to the Opposition. It's not just me that's doing this. Everyone around me are keeping up with the trend, going online everywhere using their 3G mobile phones. But sadly those people use it for a different reason lah. They only use it to check the latest soccer results. Regardless what you use the Internet for, the truth of the matter is that more and more people these days are getting on the mobile web-surfing bandwagon. As a website designer, a former software engineer and *cough* trend setter, it is therefore only logical that I create a mobile version of kennysia.com to cater for these people. And here it is. I call it kennysia.com Mobile. ;) m.kennysia.com stands for kennysia.com Mobile. It is a reworked version of kennysia.com optimised for PDAs and mobile phones. The content is exactly the same as the original website, but I scaled everything down to so they can fit the smaller screen sizes of mobile phones. The best thing about the mobile version of kennysia.com is that it has no ads, no fancy animation, no unneccessary graphics. Not only that, I went through great lengths to keep file sizes low, so everything loads faster on the phones and bandwidth charges are kept to a minimum. Pretty much all the important features of the original blog is there. All the comments left by readers are there. All my older archived entries since the day I started blogging are there, all neatly sorted by categories and months. The only thing I left out is the comment box 'cos I don't wanna have to worry about spam and such. I also left out the Chatterbox because too many crazy people are in there talking non-stop twenty-four seven. But apart from that, I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. It took me one full day to do the coding for kennysia.com Mobile, and it wasn't that hard. I do hope more Malaysian blogs and websites out there can optimise their content for mobile web browsing though. Sure, nothing beats surfing the web on the desktop right now. But with 3G phones getting smaller, data charges getting cheaper and Maxis 3G coverage getting better, mobile web browsing is definitely the way to go in the future. And those who aren't already with Maxis mobile browsing would be left behind. Like this poor fella right here. Liang, Malaysia's most energetic botak AIM-nominated emcee, recently released his music video titled "Tricks". Liang is a someone I got to know after we worked the crowd together at the many events he emceed. Most bloggers would know him as the loud emcee at the Nuffnang Pajama Party. He is a great guy in person so of course I'm more than happy to lend him support and publicity. MDG: The Final 3 Finally, our Malaysian Dreamgirl journey is coming to an end. Adeline, Cindy, Hanis - The MDG Top 3 When we first started filming this show, these three ordinary Malaysian girls have nothing more than basic knowledge in modelling and fashion. After ten weeks of intensive modelling bootcamp, workshops, marathon photoshoot sessions, look at where they are now. Cindy Adeline, Cindy and Hanis have all blossomed into professional models in different ways and in the process, defeated nine other hopefuls to become the first Top 3 of Malaysia's online reality model search. Adeline Damn. I'm gonna miss the drama so much when the show is over. At the same time, I am very pleased with how much they have all improved. Their photos speak for themselves. Hanis In the end, it is up to the public. Judging from the comments online, Hanis seems to be the favourite at the moment, although Cindy's vicious family support seems to put her in a lead ahead of the rest. Regardless, it is important to SMS your votes on who YOU would like to win Malaysian Dreamgirl. To vote for CINDY, SMS DREAM 03 to 33001. To vote for ADELINE, SMS DREAM 01 to 33001. To vote for HANIS, SMS DREAM 06 to 33001. SMS costs RM1 each and voting closes 11:59pm this Monday, so THERE IS STILL AMPLE TIME TO VOTE! Each vote you send also automatically enters you into a draw to win a RM10,000 preloaded AmBank NexG Prepaid Mastercard. Who shall win the title of the first ever Malaysian Dreamgirl? Will it be CINDY? Will it be ADELINE? Or will it be HANIS? All will be revealed 6:30pm this Tuesday night at the Malaysian Dreamgirl Grand Finale at 1Utama. I don't know who will win, but one thing for sure - I wanna get an autograph from Cindy's Dad at the Grand Finale. I am so impressed that there's actually an organization here in Malaysia called, literally, the "Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers". Somehow I couldn't help but to imagine that it's like the local version of the Wives And Girlfriends of Footballers (WAGs) in the UK. Except the role of Posh Spice is played by Jeanne Abdullah. And Pak Lah plays David Beckham. CLEO Beh-Chai-Lor So, the CLEO 50 Most Eligible Bachelor Bash is happening this Friday night at Zouk KL. My mother is confused. She has been asking me what's this whole "CLEO 50 Most Eligible Bachelors" thing-a-ma-gettin-jiggy-wit-it is all about. Well mom, the easiest way for me to explain is that it is exactly like a Miss Malaysia beauty pageant. But for men. Yes mom, your youngest son is joining a beauty contest. He will be one of the 50 finalists fighting for the title of Malaysia's Most Beautiful Man. Not exactly what you picture your fattest son might be doing 10 years ago, but sometimes in life, we need to face some difficult questions. Questions such as, "WHY IS MY SON JOINING A BEAUTY CONTEST?" It's not like I expect to win anything, of course. I know what I look like. I look in the mirror every morning and I know I ain't pretty. But in a way it's good, because the only chance I have taking part in a CLEO 50 Most Eligible Bachelors is in Malaysia. That's because our Malaysian CLEO is much tamer and toned-down compared to the other CLEO magazines around the world. If I were to compete in CLEO Singapore, I know I could never get in anywhere near the Top 50. That's because I'm gonna have to pose like this. If his name is Daren Tan (with one 'r'), my name is Keny Sia (with one 'n'). Or worse, in CLEO Australia, like this. Holy cow. Luckily this is CLEO Malaysia, and luckily I can still keep my clothes on. All of it. Luckily. Anyway, like I said, I have no chance in hell of winning the title of Malaysia's Most Beautiful Man this Friday. This year's list is full of ACTORS and SINGERS and NEWSCASTERS and MALE MODELS. #16 Adrian Loh How is a BLOGGER gonna compete with all these people? #41 Owen Yap Those profession by default are already pretty high up on every girl's sexy list. Compare that with me who lists his profession as an "IT Director/Blogger". Go ask any girl if she'd like to date a blogger, and I gerengtee you she'd laugh until her teeth fall off. #3 Ebi Kornelis Fine, with competition like that, I'm not gonna win the CLEO Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year title. I had high hopes becoming Malaysia's first fat bachelor, but I know that's not gonna happen. The only way I could win is if I talk shit about the other Bachelors, but the thought of 49 Bachelors going after me with their stick... a stick this Friday night is pretty scary. So I tried winning people's votes over with witty answers during my Q&A, but I don't think that worked out either. Since I can't win the big Miss Malaysia prize, the least I could aim for is some subsidiary title, correct? There are five categories up for grabs: Bachelor You'd Have Coffee With, Best Groomed Bachelor, Most Adventerous Bachelor, Bachelor You'd Get Hot & Sweaty With and Bachelor With Sexiest Eyes. #11 Prem. This is what Bruce Willis would look like if he's an Indian Out of those five, the only two subsidiary titles that don't require any physical beauty is "Most Adventurous Bachelor" and "Bachelor You'd Have Coffee With". Obviously, knowing my uhhhh... physical shortfall, I thought those are the titles I'd at least have some chance of winning. Besides, I reckon I'm pretty adventurous with coffee - I once drank hot coffee on the plane that was shaking like crazy. It was very adventerous. Anyway, online voting is now closed and the results are out. For the five subsidiary titles of CLEO Bachelor, the winners are: Bachelor You'd Have Coffee With: Ebi Kornelis. Best Groomed Bachelor: Ebi Kornelis. Most Adventurous Bachelor: Ebi Kornelis. (The most daredevil thing he's done is parasailing in Sabah because "the wind is very strong") Bachelor You'd Get Hot & Sweaty With: Ebi Kornelis. And Bachelor With Sexiest Eyes: Ebi Kornelis. Look, I am not bitter about losing, but this is ridiculous. Not only did Ebi Kornelis win all five subsidiary titles, he won with an amazing high margin of at least 40%. I won't be surprised if he takes out the CLEO Bachelor of the Year title this Friday. But seriously, who the heck is this EBI KORNELIS guy?! His talent is singing, playing guitar and MAKING IKAN BAKAR. For someone like than to be able to win all these subsidiary titles, his ikan bakar must have tasted really really really good. I don't wanna say it, but could there be some *cough*vote-rigging*cough* going on? I dunno. All I know is that BERSIH should stop campaigning for "clean and fair elections", and concentrate on more important things like campaigning for "clean and fair CLEO Bachelors". If not, then I think this year's competition is gonna require a new name. Ikan bakar, anyone?Karma Point Collection: Science of Life 24/7 is a youth-run organization aimed at teaching life skills to disadvantaged and at-risk youths from poor communities, at home and abroad. I met the co-founder Raj Ridvan Singh when we were speakers at the Youth Enterpreneur Conference earlier this year, and you can't help but be impressed by his drive and determination. If you know of youths who may need help getting their life back on track, or if you yourself are willing to contribute, then click here for more info. Ah Gua I had an interesting past couple of days. Over the weekend, I was invited by IDC to speak at their Directions 08 Conference in Singapore. IDC is a huge international marketing research group much like AC Nielsen, and their Directions 08 conference was one of their bigger events where delegates from Dell, HP, Microsoft, etc reportedly paid some SGD$680 each just to attend this one-day conference! Goodness! The only time I would pay THAT much money to attend a conference is if Mariah Carey is the speaker and I get to Touch Her Body afterwards... I mean, LISTEN to her sing 'Touch My Body' afterwards. Anyway, my purpose on the the conference was as part of a 4-person panel, talking about what us Generation-Y bloggers think about the Internet trends. Joining me on the panel were social media blogger Daryl from Singapore, tech blogger Victor from Hong Kong and sex blogger Meenakshi from India. Our panel session lasted for 35 minutes, and I think I spoke for a grand total of only like just 10 minutes. The coolest thing about speaking at a large-scale conference like this is that these people fly you in and let you stay at some super expensive swanky 5-star hotel that I would never be able afford on my own. The even cooler thing is that sometimes these hotel rooms are all booked out. When that happens they automatically upgrade you to a suite. Yes, a friggin' SUITE! Complete with separate living room and bedroom! Damn nice marbled bathroom with a jacuzzi! What more? They even gave us not one, but TWO RUBBER DUCKIES in the bathtub! OMG. Of course I was excited! Not everyday I get to play with rubber duckies. Oh, and also get to stay at a suite in the Grand Copthrone Hotel in Singapore, just for talking 10 minutes about blogging. :P I know, I hate myself sometimes. On Saturday night, I met up with Stickgal at CHIJMES. As you can see, Stickgal looks nothing like the stick figures that she draws, but she is definitely just as animated. The funniest thing happened before my return trip at the Changi airport. The flight to Kuching was delayed and we were given meal vouchers to redeem at the airport food court. So I while was there at the food counter, waiting for the uncle to prepare my bowl of noodles, this middle-aged Indonesian lady who obviously speaks very limited English came up to him and asked. Lady: "Ah Gua?" Uncle: "Har? What Ah Gua?" Lady: *pointing towards the uncle* "You! You! Ah Gua?" Uncle: "Har? No! No! I not Ah Gua leh!" Lady: "No! No! Ah Gua! Ah Gua!" Kenny: "Eh Uncle, I think she's asking if you sell water or not. Water is called Aqua." Uncle: "HAR? How come water call Ah Gua?"My verdict on the latest Malaysian Dreamgirl Couture Batik photoshoot: The most talented two, Nadia and Jay, was disappointing. Ringo was average. Hanis the Manis showed good promise. What surprised me the most was that the worst performers from previous shoots bounced back with a vengeance: Cindy and Adeline looked brilliantly stunning. And Adeline looked like Paris Hilton in the Escada video shoot! You're Way Too Beaoooouuuuuutiful Girl, That's Why It'll Never Work There is only one person in this whole world who could make me feel less bad about being a fattie. Here's a guy who could walk into Zouk one and a half hours too late, sing for just 30 minutes, and then leave with hundreds of teenage girls still gasping for breath and their panties halfway hanging. It doesn't matter the fact that he is big, black and looks like the size of five Kenny Sia all combined into one. As soon as he opened his mouth and sang his "You're way too beauuuuutiful girl", instantly all his sins are forgiven. Despite the hot crowd reaction, I gotta say Sean Kingston's performance was disappointingly a lacklustre affair. The guy brought along two backup rappers, four bad ass bodyguards and one deejay onto stage just for his piss weak 30-minute long "concert". It was so bad, it made me... "Sui-ci-dal. Sui-ci-dal". Until I wish it's over. The botak guy with the tulan face on stage is Sean Kingston's body guard Come to think of it, it was the DJ he brought in that did most of the work entertaining the crowd. The DJ played all of Sean Kingston's music complete with pre-recorded vocals. All Sean Kingston did was rap on top of the tracks the DJ played. Please lah, you calling that a concert? When Sean Kingston gets hungry, he eats microphones Since the concert was held in Zouk, I thought after the event, Sean himself might do the right thing and hang around the club to interact with the crowd a bit more. But noooo. Immediately after the concert, Sean Kingston was no where to be seen. My guess is that he had probably "moved to the tropics, sip pina coladas". And he didn't even bother to "take me there." Still, although the "concert" was bad, I gotta thank Hotlink and their excellent PR team for sending me the invite to this event. At least I know what a lazy overrated slob Sean Kingston is now. The only saving grace about Sean Kingston's whole 30-minute-long World Tour concert? Watching that huge gigantic round blob actually DANCE on stage. Me love.Karma Point Collection: There's a "World Swim Against Malaria" event this 26th April at the Pusat Akuatik Negeri in Seremban. This charity event aims to raise awareness and eradicate this scary disease. Registration forms are available at all Royal Sporting House outlets, and all participants will receive a Speedo goodie bag worth RM200. MMU Melaka Mystique Prom Night Kids these days. When I was in Uni, going to a prom means going to some boring overrated dinner at some boring 5-star hotel hosted by some boring emcees. The old tired formula NEVER EVER changes. Recently, when the organizers of the MMU Melaka Mystique prom night called me up inviting me to be a guest at their event, I was pretty much anticipating the same thing. My expectations weren't high. To start with, the prom was organized collectively by three student societies, namely the Business & Law, Engineering and IT societies of Multimedia University. I have been to many events organized by students before. I know what it's like. I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary like some stylo mylo VIP corporate event. Because let's face it lah - this event is organised by Uni students. Students don't have much money to spare. I know that because when I was in Curtin, I used to organize a lot of events myself. One of the biggest problems we as students always run into is: NOT ENOUGH $$$$$. It's damn near impossible to extort... extract money out of our sponsors because they never see much benefit in doing so. On top of that, it's difficult to get anyone to come to our events because we were so crap in our job. So imagine my surprise when I found out that not only was the prom fully sold out in two days, these kids have enough money to rent out the entire Grand Ballroom at the Equatorial Hotel Melaka, hire Soo Kui Jien, Stephanie Chai, Estraged, Pop Shuvit and myself to provide entertainment, and STILL have enough money left over to donate to World Vision for charity! Kids these days are sooooo lucky ok. This is the vivacious Stephanie Chai. She's one of the few Kuching girls who's doing exceptionally well in the KL entertainment circles. Most people would recognize her from the countless magazine covers that she has graced, but lately I get to see her a lot because of that ad she did with Starhill Gallery which is always playing at the KLIA Express train. Azwin Andy where are you staring? Steph and I shared a car from KL down to Melaka. Not only is she the most down-to-earth celeb I've met, she's a fantastic companion to travel with as well. Throughout the trip, we swapped stories about Kuching, people we know, our jobs and our relationships. It made the two hour long journey seems a lot a shorter than it is. Unfortunately, I was the one driving and we arrived late. It's all my fault because of my super l33t na\/iGati0n skillz that even saw us ending up in a police station compound after making a wrong turn. This is Jien, host of Malaysian Idol and most recently ESPN Star Sports. I don't like him. Many times during the prom, there would be some hot chicks standing in a corner, giggling and pointing towards my direction squealing “omg he’s so cute!” Then I would shyly wave back at them and smile, but they would not respond. Then I realised it was because Jien standing behind me. That is why I hate that bugger. This is Renee. She is my prom date for the evening. Coincidentally, Renee was also last year’s prom queen. That's cool because it's not everyday you can get to date a prom queen, even if it's just for one evening. ;) On the other hand, I was lousy as her prom date. Not only did I arrive late, I forgot to give her the traditional corsage. And most of the time the prom date was left alone at the table while I was busy taking photos to use in this blog entry. The organizers were right in inviting Steph and Jien to emcee the prom. They were both fantastic and entertaining throughout the evening. Considering how little preparation time they had, they did such an amazing job. Stephanie especially was lamenting to me how unprepared she was. She was only told what to do when she arrived at the venue. Those two joked, danced, made everyone laugh and injected life into the party. I wish I could do what they do. They were so natural on stage and not once did they stutter or skip a beat. Except maybe for this one time when they asked the VIPs to go on stage for the gong-sounding, only to stop halfway because they don't know where the bloody gong was. Ok lah, to be fair, that "thing" didn't actually look like a gong. It's not one of those heavy brass ones they use at Iban longhouses. Still, it is a gong. But it isn't just any gong. It's a freakin' MULTIMEDIA SUPER DIGITAL GONG. Dun pray pray ok. That thing is so CANGGIH it can project POWDERFUL laser out of its surface when they hit it with a stick. Those crazy Malaccans. Always like to do things differently down there. Soon, it was time to announce the nominees for Prom King and Prom Queen. Now, here's the cracker. For Prom King and Queen, the nominees weren't judged by how they look or how well they're dressed. Instead, each nominee are required to go on stage and perform their "special talent". I gotta say, I was absolutely head over heels over how much effort each nominee put into their performances. First up was Prom King nominee Q-bert. Q-bert is a stereotypical engineering geek with a funny name and two botak lines on the side of his head (Jien described it as "No Parking" zone). For his act, he sung his lungs out like a reject on Malaysian Idol. Next came Prom Queen nominee Joanne. She came out and did what I thought was an extremely boring slow dance with Q-bert. THEN SUDDENLY. They broke off and abruptly changed into this energetic number to the catchy tune of "I like big butts and I cannot lie". It was complete with dance moves so hilariously over-the-top I could not stop laughing the whole entire time. It was more "cheerleading" than "prom dance" and the crowd absolutely loved it. Needless to say, those two won the titles of Prom King and Prom Queen respectively. Q-bert and Joanne weren't the only notable dancers of the night. For the award of the prom night's Best Couple, the crowd narrowed down the selections to two guys and one girl. Steph and Jien stipulated that there must be an impromptu "dance off" to determine which two should be crowned Best Couple. Naturally, you'd think that the two guys would compete for female attention right? Wrong! What happened instead was the poor girl being kicked to the side. And the two guys danced with each other so passionately until their dance included THIS MOVE. What the hell was THAT! LOOK MA, IT'S THE PROM MONSTER WITH FOUR ARMS AND FOUR LEGS. Ridiculous. Everyone was so speechless they had no choice but to make those two winners for Best Couple. Good thing the night was saved by Pop Shuvit and Estraged. If you don't know already, those two are among the best of the best live bands in Malaysia and they completely rocked those psychologically-traumatised students. The prom started at 8pm and before long, it was already past midnight and time to wrap up the event. Time flies when you're having fun. Now, this is when another corker of the night happened. After the prom night ended, the organizers arranged to have Steph, Jien, Pop Shuvit, Estraged and myself escorted out to the foyer for a photoshoot session with the students. That's fine, right? They hired us, the students paid for their tickets, so it's perfectly reasonable that we stay and mingle around with them. But get this. We were escorted out by RELA and HOTEL SECURITY. Outside the Grand Ballroom was the maddest reception I have ever personally witnessed. Cameras were flashing non-stop as if we're surrounded by paparazzis and everyone was trying to get their pictures taken. It was a rare moment of photo frenzy. But surely, we don't need RELA to give us protection. These are MMU students, not Hindraf protestors ok! When we're done and wanted to go back to our hotel rooms, a staff approached us and asked if we wanted to escape using the back door. I was stunned. Suddenly I have no idea whether to cry or laugh at that suggestion. On one hand, I could feel my coconuts instantly grow one size bigger. On the other hand, they're talking to this guy who flies AirAsia, takes public transport and eats RM2.20 kolo mee by the roadside wearing just shorts and slippers. Please lor. I am just Kenny Sia. Not Madonna. So I reckon I could make my way to the hotel lobby without much problems thankyouverymuch. Kudos to the organizers for doing such an amazing job putting together this prom night. The food was great, the show was entertaining and the people were fun. I know I had fun. It's such a big difference comparing it to my University prom night. My Uni prom night was so bad, to make the comparison with theirs would be like comparing Princess Diana with Amy Winehouse. The tagline for the Mystique 2008 is "A Fairytale Ending". I guess for everyone who attend the prom, their evening did have a fairytale ending. Everyone. Well, except for me. Because eventhough Renee my prom date was fantasticly patient, my night was completely ruined with the image of THIS forever burned into my head. The horror. Next time you see this creature, it'll be in a Spiderman movie. As the bad guy. Spidey is gonna have his hands full with this one. Blog Plug of the Day: This is honestly the most ridiculously hilarious review of Malaysian Dreamgirl I have ever read. Ho Swee Kim now has some serious competition for the bitchiest blog in Malaysia. Whoever wrote that blog, you ROCK! Singapore Straits Times Also Asks Kenny Sia If Blogging Is Harmful To Health Apparently over in the US, two bloggers have died over what is presumed to be "blog-related stress." Personally, I think putting the cause of their deaths squarely on blogging is a bit ridiculous. But that doesn't stop a journalist from The Straits Times (Singapore) from asking bloggers what they think about the whole issue. Cowboy Caleb was the first interviewed, and that smart arse answered those smart arsequestions in the most smart arse-rrific way that only he can. A few days later, I got a SIMILAR set of interview questions by the same journalist. I thought the questions were kinda cute, so I'm publishing my reply here. How many posts do you write a month? Around 15 entries. What is the most number of posts you've ever written in a day? One. Bear in mind, I normally spread my time over several days to complete one long entry. What is the craziest thing you've done in the name of blogging? I wrote a letter to OSIM demanding them to replace Fiona Xie with me on their OSIM uZap ads. They never replied. Do you find yourself having the urge to blog at the strangest places and times? eg do you blog while having meals, during concerts, in the toilet etc? The only urge I have when I'm in the toilet is something else. Not blogging. But come to think of it, the word "blog" sounds very much like the sound I make when I'm doing number two in the toilet. Except after a heavy meal, the sound I make it not "blog". More like "BLLLOOOOGGGGGGGG!!!!" Seriously though, whoever blogs in toilets needs to get their heads checked. How often do you check your blog to see if there are new comments? Every 4 or 5 hours, or whenever I'm free. I get a new comment every few minutes or so, and I have the habit of reading those comments on my phone whenever I'm idling. It is reported that many bloggers suffer from weight loss/gain, insomnia etc. Has your health been affected in similar ways? Yes, my health has been affected. Since I started blogging, I went on a detox diet, completed two 42km marathons and climbed the Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. All these are things I wouldn't have possibly done if it wasn't for the encouragement from the people I met through my blog. With reference to the NY times story, those bloggers who died in the US are in fact no different to freelance writers who are paid per piece by companies who hired them. When your pay is determined by how much production you generate, obviously some people get a little bit ambitious and overwork themselves. Here in this region, we don't have that kind of system where freelance writers are paid for each blog entry they generate. Most bloggers in Asia are doing it as a hobby. However, there are freelance workers in other industries who overwork, and those are the ones that need to worry about their health more. Do you feel the stress to beat fellow bloggers in coming up with the wittiest post, the fastest response to a piece of news etc? Used to, but not anymore. I have my own style and other bloggers have theirs. There's no point competing, unless you wanna compare the size of our egos then yes, sometimes bloggers compete with each other. Then again, everyone already knows that my balls are the biggest. Do you believe that blogging can kill? Why? Yes, blogging can kill. Blogging can kill time. Therefore, blogging is dangerous and bloggers should be put into jail together with Mas Selamat. Somehow, I don't think my interview is ever gonna make it onto the newspaper. Jackie Chan's new fitness equipment looks like a piece of GIANT SANITARY PAD. Something Is Very Wrong With This Ad Milan is famous for being the designer fashion capital of the world. Versace, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Dolce & Gabanna, Kanina, Tualampa. You name it, you got it. Naturally, there are heaps of billboard ads from all the famous fashion houses adorning the walls of the buildings around here. The best thing about these ads is that they are all very eye-catching, because more often than not they employ some of the best supermodels in the world. Like this Dolce & Gabanna ad I saw at the Milan airport. At first glance, this seems like a pretty typical ad for a fashion label. You got a couple of hot chicks in the centre of attention, having fun, dancing together with some other equally hot guys. All the girls are dressed in nice dresses. All the guys are dressed in fine suits. All of them looking like a million bucks. Everything looks all fine and dandy like a normal party scene, but did you see something SERIOUSLY wrong with this ad? Why is that guy DANCING IN HIS UNDIES next to a girl? In other parts of the world, his arse would be locked in jail for sexual harrassment ok!I'm slowly getting the fitness routine back into my life after being absent from the gym for the past 2 months due to heavy travel. April's travel schedule is relatively much lighter compared to February and March. Even so, I still gotta hop on a plane out of Kuching every week. Rejected Stickgal Contribution Remember Stickgal? The blogger from Singapore who used comics instead of words to write her blog? She sent me an e-mail recently. She said that she's wondering if I could help her out by guest-starring and contributing some entries to stickgal.blogspot.com I replied her and told her that I have been extremely busy lately, and that I'm finding it hard enough to update my own blog, let alone contribute to other blogs. I don't have a lot of free time. And when I do have some free time, I'd rather take a break from blogging and do "research" on Edison Chen. Research only hor. But because stickgal is so cute, somehow I managed to find time in my hectic schedule to contribute a special kennysia.com blog entry to Stickgal. I spent a lot of hardwork and effort on it. When I sent it in to her, I thought that she'd be very touched because I am so flooded with work yet I still find time to do her a favour. But nooooooo. :P Instead of posting up my contribution and hailing me as a legendary hero, this is what she wrote to me in the end. I wonder why. "Stickson Chen" My drawing not nice meh?According to CLEO, the leading bachelor right now for CLEO's Most Adventurous Bachelor is Ebi Kornelis. But when I checked out his profile, he said the most daredevil thing he's ever done is... PARASAILING IN SABAH. What! Parasailing? Adventurous?! How is parasailing adventerous?! All you need to do is get dragged with a rope for a few seconds. That's not adventurous. I swallowed a friggin' SNAKE HEART in Vietnam ok! With blood ok! How come no one says I am adventurous! Yalah yalah, this is sour grape speaking here. :P I should shut up now or else Ebi Kornelis is probably gonna swallow me with his hair. MDG - The Journey So Far With the shocking elimination of two of Malaysian Dreamgirl's favourites, Valerie and Eyna, it's pretty safe to say the show now is starting to get pretty interesting. ;) I'm glad as well that a lot people's initial complaints about the show is being addressed. We still have a long way to go, but if you've been following the episodes of Malaysian Dreamgirl (like you should!), then you'd have noticed that the editing and post-production value of the show have improved tremendously. Granted, comparison with similar shows in America is inevitable. Then again, those shows have thousands of sponsors and 100 over people working on the production team, whereas I can count the number of people working on Malaysian Dreamgirl with two hands and maybe one foot. You can't compare it that way. Besides, where else can you find a bunch of Malay, Chinese and Indian girls on a model search reality show, speaking in a mix of Malay, English and Manglish? Malaysian Dreamgirl is a show about ordinary Malaysian girls going through the difficult process to become extraordinary models. It is a show made by Malaysians, for Malaysians, because we want you to be able to relate to these contestants and what they're are going through. You can't say the same for American-based shows now, can you? Those contestants in those shows are like aliens ok. One question I get asked a lot even until today is why Giselle, the long-legged kindergarten teacher from the auditions, didn't get through to the Top 12. I admit, I was a fan of hers during the first-stage auditions. Lim Jimmy was the first to notice her pimples covered under her unusually thick make up, but we didn't make a big fuss out of it. Problem is, by the time the second-stage auditions come around, the kindy teacher's face isn't just dotted with pimples anymore. It has turned into a full-blown GRAND CANYON. It's almost like she was infected with some sorta disease. I know a lot of people love her, but there's simply no chance in hell we could let her through in that condition. Not when there are other girls more deserving to be in the Top 12. Anyway, next weekend I'll be travelling to KL (again) to issue the girls a brand new challenge. I can't wait for it. It's been almost a month since I last met up with Adeline, Cindy, Fiqa, Hanis, Nadia, Jay and Ringo. I'm just anxious to see how far they have progressed now that the end is near. In less than 4 weeks time, we shall crown our first ever Malaysian Dreamgirl. And here's what I think each contestant's chances are. Cindy To vote Cindy, SMS DREAM 03 and send it to 33001 Cindy Tey is exactly the type of girl that a lot of guys will like, but many girls hate. And many girls also hate the guys who like Cindy. It's very sad lah. You really gotta pity her for not being able to get along with the other girls in the house. Even the comments on her blog were laced with vicious attackers calling her names normally reserved for Samy Vellu. Cindy in Women'Secret - not a lot of secrets there I'm impartial towards Cindy. One thing I must say is that she's not as bad as many make her out to be. You gotta admire her also for the lengths she's willing to go through to succeed in this competition. Her passion shows, more so than the other girls. The fact that her family drove 5 hours down from Johor to KL for the auditions is just one example of how bad she wants it. And for that I give her credit. Cindy in Precinct 2 - still not good, but getting better The problem with Cindy is that she tries too hard. During the Women'Secret photoshoot, Cindy tries to be sexy, but often times her sex appeal borderlines on being trashy. Instead of taking small steps one at a time, Cindy tends to do things her on way and ends up falling all over the place. Her catwalk at 1Utama was the very definition of the word 'atrocious'. Cindy in White Summer - shows how youthful and happy she looks. It's her best shoot so far She has a lot to learn lah, but I wish that she goes far in this competition because I can see that she wants it very much. Jay To vote Jay, SMS DREAM 07 and send it to 33001 Jaishana Loganathan is the most experienced model of the top 12, having done many runway shows and appearing on magazine covers as recently as February. Jay in Women'Secret - whatever she's selling here I'm buying In Malaysian Dreamgirl, Jay sets the standards for all the other girls, and many of them are still struggling to catch up. But being experienced does not automatically mean that you will win this competition. This show goes for 10 weeks. And viewers will get bored easily if she does not produce something that will blow people pants off with each photoshoot. Jay in Precinct 2 - one word: WOW. When I last blogged about Malaysian Dreamgirl, many kennysia.com readers criticised Jay for having a "man face". Seriously, I don't see that as being a problem. Jay was great in the Women'Secret photoshoot. But when it comes to Precinct 2 where they all have to dress up like men, Jay's shoot completely blew all her competition away. I just could not understand why she came up in the Bottom 3 last week. Jay in White Summer - not her best, but it shows her versatility in her photoshoots Vote for her dammit. Jay is Top 3 material. Adeline To vote Adeline, SMS DREAM 01 and send it to 33001 Her name is Adeline Lee and her favourite food is SOO-SEE! :D Enough about her lack of fluency in English. ;) Honestly, she has improved a lot after staying with the girls. Adeline in Women'Secret - aka "Har? What am I doing here?" Adeline consistently takes amazing photos, except maybe for the ones where tries to look cool because those ones made her look like a clueless duck instead. Adeline in Precinct 2 - even the chair looked better than her Adeline's favourite Malaysian model is Amber Chia. In more ways than one, Adeline reminds me of Amber. That's very good because Amber is a very successful model. But that's also very bad because like Amber pretty much only appeals to the Chinese market and not the mainstream. But Adeline is actually one of the better contestants left on the show. Not as good as Jay or Nadia, but good nonetheless. Adeline in Precinct 2 - nice and sweet, but how come all her smiles look the SAME!? I thought her photos are the best among all the girls in the White Summer photoshoot. Fiqa To vote Fiqa, SMS DREAM 05 and send it to 33001 She's my favourite at the start of the competition. Me likey this photo of her. Fiqa in Women'Secret - seductive. I like. Very vogue. Very mysterious. Tasteful. I like her looks, I like her personality. Nur Afiqa Liyana Chong is a tomboy trapped in a woman's body, and I've got a thing for that too. During the auditions, she playfully played with her tongue piercing and that was enough to win me over. Hehe. Fiqa in Precinct 2 - looks like an ad for an expensive scotch whiskey But somehow, while the photos of the other girls keeps getting better and better, Fiqa's photos seem to get worse and worse. Since the Women'Secret photoshoot, none of Fiqa's other photos seem to make an impression. Even on the show, Fiqa was quite forgettable. She seems to have lost the X-factor as the show progresses. Her bitch-hunt against Cindy may have worked, but it earned her a few detractors as well. Me no likey these photos of her. Fiqa in White Summer - I really only like the third pic. The others are crap. Fiqa was on the bottom 3 last week. At this stage of the competition, I gotta say I am not surprised. Ringo To vote Ringo, SMS DREAM 11 and send it to 33001 Now here's a tough one for me to judge. It's no secret that I know Cheesie and that I'm close friends with her. As her friend, obviously I wanted her to go far. Ringo in Women'Secret - all the curves in all the right places At the same time, I don't wanna be accused of biasness and let the show lose credibility. This show cannot afford to lose credibility. Which is why during the auditions, I sat back and let the other two judges decide whether to put her through to the Top 12 or not. They decided against it, so I got nothing to say. (By chance, one of the original Top 12 pulled out and Ringo was called back in.) But still, you gotta be impressed with Ringo's photoshoot after her makeover. Ringo in Precinct 2 - too cute to be masculine Ringo is the smallest in size among all the girls, but yet she's able to deliver results in her photoshoots. With the exception of Precinct 2, all her photos turned out amazing. No doubt Ringo is gonna stay in the competition for a long time in part due to the huge following of her blog. This competition is based on popular votes, yes, and her fans are gonna vote to keep her in. None of the other contestants have that advantage. Question is, can they win over Ringo's fan base? Ringo in White Summer - I think she's the best among all the girls in this photoshoot Well, if even an accomplished singer like Dayang can lose out to Suki in One In A Million, surely that's saying something about the fickle-mindedness of Malaysian fans. Hanis To vote Hanis, SMS DREAM 06 and send it to 33001 "Datin" Hanis, the public's favourite contestant from Malaysian Dreamgirl. Hanis in Women'Secret - looking older than she actually is Almost every single one of my friend who watches the show enjoy watching Hanis. Whether it's that little dance she did when Jimmy praised her, or her manja voice everytime she does an on-screen interview, or how cute she looks when she cries everytime a girl leaves the house - Malaysia just could not get enough of Hanis the Manis. Hanis in Precinct 2 - something looks a bit strange here I can see why. Hanis is a little girl who comes across like she is everybody's high school best friend. All my female friends watching the show told me that they can relate to Hanis as a young innocent girl put into a stressful situation. There is no denying of Hanis' popularity, but the problem here is - Hanis cannot take good pictures! Hanis in White Summer - looks like a toothpaste ad for people wearing braces We have done three photoshoots so far, and all of them came up subpar. How lah to model with photos like that? Nadia To vote Nadia, SMS DREAM 09 and send it to 33001 Not only does she have the best body (in my opinion) among the top 12, Nadiah Johary is easily the most confident of the lot. That is a compliment to her because in modelling, confidence equals sexy. Nadia in Women'Secret - ooh la la. And Nadia is incredibly sexy. The only thing working against Nadia is that she comes across being very competitive. Even more so than Cindy. As much as I think she's one of the best in the Top 12, Malaysian Dreamgirl is based on popular vote. People might not like her and people might eliminate her although she is good, just like how the people eliminated Eyna. Nadia in Precinct 2 - oozing confidence like only Nadia can. When she first came for the auditions, the judges all agree that Nadia comes across a little "fierce". It's in her eyes and the way she portrays herself. But in her defence, being "fierce" may not necessarily be a bad thing. Angelina Jolie is "fierce" too, but look at where she is now. (Personally I'd like to see Nadia in a tight-fitting leather suit carrying a whip, but that's a different story for another day.) Nadia in Precinct 2 - smiles are too wide making her look awkward, but oh so feminine That being said, she gotta tone down the attitude a bit when it comes to photoshoots and it seems like she is listening to the judges' advice. Because of that, Nadia has produced better and better photos, and that is a testament to how seriously this girl takes this competition. I like that. At this point of the competition, if Nadia wins I'll be very, very proud. This must be longest blog entry I've written since the interviews I did for the Elections, so I sure hope people WATCH THE SHOW! MDG fever is sweeping the country. There's a Facebook group created here. Read what other bloggers are saying over here. There's also a multitude of contests to keep people occupied over here. And with only 4 weeks left till the end, it goes without saying that voting is extremely crucial at this point. Who will win Malaysian Dreamgirl?There is no way I'm gonna win the 2008 CLEO Bachelor of the Year, but I'm gonna aim for at least one subsidiary title. So, vote Kenny Sia for best "Bachelor You'd Have Your Coffee With". Please? :) Male Meat Sex Parade You know what I find utterly annoying? CLEO Magazine's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors. EVERY YEAR, CLEO magazine runs a list of who they think are the 50 most eligible bachelors in Malaysia. EVERY YEAR, they attempt to destroy the self-esteem of ordinary men of the streets by spreading glossy photos after glossy photos of impossibly good-looking men flashing their million-ringgit smiles across their magazine pages. EVERY YEAR, we have to put up with all those college girls, DROOLING and FANTASISING and GIGGLING among themselves silly as they go through the list of CLEO Bachelors like it's some sorta Male Meat Sex Menu to order from. This is how a typical conversation between two college school girls is like when they go through CLEO magazine's 50 Eligible Bachelors. Paris Tan: OMG. Like, do you have, like, the latest issue of, like, CLEO Magazine? Giselle Chia: Yeah! Like OMG. It has, like, the 50 most eligible, like, bachelors in it! Paris Tan: OMG can I have a look, like, please please please? Giselle Chia: Yeah, come see see! *pulls out a copy of CLEO Magazine* Paris Tan: OMG! Look at this one! He's so cuteeeeeeeeeee. Giselle Chia: Him? He's ok only lah. Come I show you which one I like best. *flips pages* Nah, this one! Paris Tan: OMG! You're right! He's damn hot. I want this one already! Giselle Chia: Cannot! He's mine! Choose your own one lah, come on! Paris Tan: Haha ok lah. You can have him. Then I'll choose this guy instead. Giselle Chia: Cannot! He's mine too! Paris Tan: WTF? But I thought you already chose that one? Giselle Chia: Ya lah. But this one for marrying, and that one is for shagging. *giggle* *giggle* *giggle* Paris Tan: Bitch! Ok lah since you're my bestie I'll share him with you ok? Giselle Chia: Ya sure sure! So I'll have him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and you can have him Thursday, Friday, Saturday ok? Paris Tan: Ok deal! *giggle* *giggle* *giggle* Oi! What do you think us guys are? Toys for you girls to share and compare and pass around one is it! Goodness! I remember speaking to Mia last year about how this CLEO is objectifying men with their 50 Eligible Bachelors list. She could only roll her eyes at me and go, "Well, but you guys have been doing the same thing with FHM for so many years. I'm sure you guys also compare among your guy friends which one of those FHM models you wanna shag and all that." But... it's different! "You're just jealous of the guys lah, is it? ;)" Jealous? No. I'm not jealous. I mean like, sure, all those CLEO Bachelors are good-looking lah. Model type lah. Handsome lah. Eligible lah. That's why girls like them lah. And maybe I secretly think that guys being treated as eye candies and sex objects isn't such a bad thing. I mean, which guy wouldn't wanna be the object of desire of girls right? Shallow, but it's true. I know lah I'm too chubby to be considered "eligible". Whatever man. I'm not jealous. Really. Ok lah, maybe I'm just a littleeeee wee bit jealous of all the attention they're getting from the girls. Just a little. But please. How sissy it is for MEN to compete in a MALE beauty contest? It's like if any of they win, they're gonna have to wear a tiara and sash saying "MR CLEO BACHELOR OF THE YEAR." Then go parade around in their underwear. Seriously. Which self-respecting male would join a competition like that? I don't know, man. Hey look, WHO IS THAT!Apparently some people still didn't get it, but the previous entry was meant to be an April's Fool prank lah. I'm not quitting on kennysia.com. Not in the near future anyway. Sure, trying to juggle several things at the same time isn't easy. But I guess as long as we prioritise what's important, allocate our time properly and compromise sometimes, I think it's not impossible to still have everything work out the best for myself and everyone else. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. A Special Announcement By kennysia.com My mom and I spoke to each other at length last night. She was expressing her concerns that all these blogging is taking too much time away from me. Ultimately, I need to decide what is important in my life. And what is important right now is that I focus 100% on my career, spend time with the family, eventually finding a good wife, start a family and settle down. It wasn't the first time she had such a conversation with me. The only difference is that last time, I was adamant about keeping kennysia.com running. This time round, I am actually seriously thinking about quitting blogging altogether. Short of running for Elections, I have pretty much achieved everything a Malaysian blogger can do and more. Because of kennysia.com, I have been to events I never imagined I'd go, met friends I would never have met otherwise and get my photos printed across numerous newspapers and magazines. There's nothing else left for me to achieve as a Malaysian blogger. Blogging used to be fun. People used to like me. Last time I used to get a lot of nice encouraging emails. Now I only get like 5 a month, and those 5 are from students needed me to help them do their thesis. Worse, now my blog is also used as a medium to attack me as a person. People leave comments and attack because my blog wasn't critical enough, elegant enough, crude enough, political enough for them. I was attacked because I was a bad judge for Malaysian Dreamgirl. I was attacked because my blog has too many ads, eventhough I turned down many lucrative deals just because I don't want my readers to feel bogged down by ads. People use my blog to insult me because I am fat, because I have canine teeth that makes me look like a vampire when I smile, or because I speak with an accent eventhough I honestly could not help it after staying overseas for so long. Sure, some negative comments is expected, but too much of it is seriously just too much for me to take. Like the last time when I blog about eating a snake in Vietnam, taking a photo with a topless tranny in Thailand, or even something as innocent as experience bringing a hamster to a restaurant. It wasn't like this before, blogging used to be fun. Now it has gone so personal it's ridiculous. It's getting extremely stressful trying to live up to everyone's expectations. Wondering again and again if what I'd write would offend people is driving me nuts. I can't even function normally anymore. I'm spending less time with my family, concentrating less on work and becomes extremely devoid on social life. I could hardly find the time and mood to go on MSN even. After updating this blog non-stop for 3 years plus even during my supposed holidays, I feel that now is the right time to make a decision. I therefore announce that I am quitting blogging forever. Blogging was fun, but it has lost it's meaning. Ultimately, there are things more important to me than updating a website. It's time that I make amends, and do all the things I wanna do in my life before I lost the opportunity to do so. A big thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout the years. Wait, what's today's date again? This entry was published in it's original form right here. When In Rome People used to say "When in Rome" "Do as the Romans do." Well. This was probably not quite what they had in mind.I am still on holidays in Italy right now, updating my blog whenever I could from the overpriced internet connection provided by the hotel. Don't worry, I'll be back in a few days time. ADV: Maccing Around The World This is one of my favourite movie scenes in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. John Travolta's character asked Samuel L Jackson. Travolta: You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris? Jackson: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?! Travolta: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the f--- a Quarter Pounder is. Jackson:Then what do they call it? Travolta: Royale with Cheese. Jackson: Royale with Cheese! Hahaha! What do they call a Big Mac? Travolta: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac. Jackson: Hahaha! What do they call a Whopper? Travolta: Dunno man. Didn't go into Burger King. McDonald's is the ultimate symbol of globalisation taking place. In virtually every country in every single part of the world, you are more likely to find a McDonald's outlet than a Malaysian embassy. I travel a lot, and I make it a point to go to a McDonald's restaurant in every foreign country I visit. It's always fun to spot the subtle differences in their restaurant menus. The thing I like most about McDonald's is that whilst their traditional menu is pretty much the same worldwide, they usually have special menu items to cater for different tastes in the different countries. Like here in Italy, there's a McFlurry made with Baci chocolates. McSawadeekap In Thailand, they have the Samurai Pork Burger (basically pork burger in teriyaki sauce). In South Korea, you can get a Bulgogi Burger. In India, there's even something called a McSurprise Burger. What's in it? I don't know. It's a surprise. If I tell you then it wouldn't be a surprise. When I visited Egypt last year, I laughed my backside off when I found out their grilled chicken foldover is called McArabia. In New Zealand, they have the Kiwi Burger that is not actually made of kiwi bird meat. And if you ever go to the Phillipines, you can try out their McSpaghetti. And how could I possibly resist my all-time favourite McDonald's menu item, the Fan-tastic Rice Burger, which was sadly only available for a short time in Hong Kong and Singapore. It's this really delicious burger that uses rice patties in place of buns, and in between them are some shredded beef or chicken that oozes with yummy gravy. I still dream of that taste in my mouth after having tried them 2 years ago. In Malaysia, the variations in our McDonald's menu is quite admirable. Not many other places in the world offer Bubur Ayam McD or Ayam Goreng McD as standards on their McMenu. You can NEVER get porridge or fried chicken at a McDonald's in Australia. It's just too weird to picture Ronald McDonald holding onto a piece of fried chicken. I remember back when McD's opened their first outlet in Kuching, and this was before they have Ayam Goreng McD on their menu. I brought my mom along and for the life of her, she just could not understand why a fast food restaurant does not serve fried chicken. To her, that's about as inexplicable as a kopitiam NOT serving coffee. I haven't been to a local McD's in ages. But having visited so many of their outlets all over the world, I must say I'm impressed with how well our outlets measure up. Nowadays you can chill out and even watch late night football at some McD's outlets. Many of their more popular outlets have gone 24 hours. Some even have a 24-hour drive-thru service. And if you're really lazy, there's even McDelivery 24 hours available at certain locations. I popped by McDonald's at Sunway Pyramid recently and I noticed they now offer this McSaver menu everyday promotion. Looks like the guys at the golden arches are getting generous, slashing prices off their best-selling items to help us save on the costs of living. As if McD's aren't cheap enough already. The prices may be slightly dearer in Sabah and Sarawak, but there's a good variety of great deals on the McSaver menu. Cheap snacks like French Fries, Drinks and Apple or Banana Pies are only RM2 each. And if you add a ringgit more, you can get items like the Cheese Burger, Bubur Ayam McD, Nuggets, 2 Pies or even the Sundae at just RM3. Then there's the new Spicy Chicken Wrap, which is something unique only to McD's in Malaysia. Can't find it anywhere else, and now it's only RM4. The best deal from the menu? Most definitely it's the Filet-O-Fish. The Filet-O-Fish at McDonald's is possibly one of the best around. Breaded fish patty on half a slice of cheese, topped lightly with tartar sauce and served between soft fluffy steamed buns. If there's a better implementation of fish burgers around then I have yet to try them. These buggers (no pun intended) usually sell for RM5.30, but now it's going for just RM4 each. Gotta be lovin' it. :)You know you've grown old reached a certain stage of maturity in life when most of the stuff you purchased during your holidays are not for yourself, but gifts for others. A Very Old Church Italy is a country blessed with many old and beautiful catholic churches. One of the greatest grand old churches in the world is the Duomo di Milano - literally, the cathedral of Milan. I actually came across this building unexpectedly when I lost my way around the narrow streets of the city. The first time I laid my eyes on it, it took my breath away. With its imposing Gothic facade and its amazing spires rising above the surrounding designer boutiques, I was left in absolute awe. It costs 7 Euros (RM35) to use the elevator. The views from the top of the cathedral are worth every penny of it. Adorning the top of the tallest spire, holding a cross, is the bronze statue of Madonna. Not the singer Madonna. The religious figure Madonna. The exterior of the Duomo di Milano is simply extraordinary. There are at least 3,200 statutes, all intricately carved out of stones, marbles, bronze and gold, crammed onto the facade, pillars and buttresses of the structure. Eventhough parts of the building are still undergoing restoration when I visited it, the beauty of the cathedral is undeniable. The complexity of building such a complicated structure got me wondering how much time it actually took to build a church like that. My travel guidebook said it was built in 1397 and wasn't finished until year 1812. That is a blardy long time to finish a building like that. In Kuching, our oldest temple is the Tua Pek Kong which is probably only 100 years old. And to us, that is very old already. In comparison, the Duomo di Milano is at least 600 years old. The cathedral is so old, at least 11 different chief engineers worked on it. It is so old, it takes over 8 generations of builders to build. Heck. It is so old, even the statues' boobs start sagging.Italian is a really funny language. Over here, "ciao" means "hi", "si" means "yes", and "prego" means "you're welcome." In Malaysia, "ciao" means "bird", "si" means "die", and "prego" is what happen when you forgot to use the condom last night. The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci painted this way back in 1492. Now, people like me pay 8 Euros (RM40) just to watch this piece of work for 15 minutes. Even a foot massage costs cheaper than that. From the back wall of Santa Maria della Grazie church in Milan, Italy. Jesus said to his twelve apostles, "One of you shall betray me." Happy (belated) Easter, Jesus. Blog Plug of the Day: Well, this one is not exactly a blog, but a forum frequented by (mostly) Singaporean bloggers. They won an auction in the recent Nuffnang Anniversary party and they are claming their prize, which is a free plug on kennysia.com So join The Cowboy Bar and see what bored Singaporeans do when they don't spend time catching Mas Selamat. ADV: INTI University College Sometime ago, INTI University College (INTI-UC) invited me over to the campus in Nilai to cover its graduation ceremony for kennysia.com It's been ages since I set foot in a campus and my trip to INTI-UC brought back some warm memories of the good old times of my student days. The trip was also my first time to Nilai in Negri Sembilan. Nilai is a booming town that is ironically closer to the KL International Airport than KL city itself. I was picked up at the airport by one of INTI-UC's officers who drove me straight to the campus. The whole journey took us less than 20 minutes. Too bad INTI's Nilai Campus has been around for a good ten years, and it does show its age. One of the first things that impress me is how much emphasis is put on on-campus housing, or the "Halls of Residences" as they call it. There's got to be at least 15 blocks of hostels here of different rates and configurations. Parents come and dump their kids here so that they can learn how to become more independent. International and outstation students make it their home away from home. With such a large expanse of residential units, the university college can accommodate tons of boarding students. Confucius is so confusing it makes me confused Instead of following the usual way of naming their buildings Block A, B, C, D and so on, the Halls of Residence are named after famous scholars. So we've got a Block Confucius for Block C and a Block Darwin for Block D. Maybe it's to inspire students. Or maybe it's the work of evil people who wanna make people confused. The room I was put in was in the "Shakespeare" block. Though old, the unit is large and well-furnished. It comes with an internet line provided free-of-charge, but too bad you can't download too much data over it. Fair enough. You're meant to come here and study, not download MP3s and watch Youtubes dammit. It's no five star hotel but it's a lot better than most hostels I've seen which smell so bad not even homeless people would wanna stay in them. All the creature comforts are concentrated here. There's an ATM machine, a convenience store, a hair salon, a computer shop and a cybercafe all located in the same area. It's not all fun and games here of course. They do have some common rooms here in the Halls to encourage group studies. Recreation-wise, students are spoilt for choice because there's a gym, soccer field, squash courts, badminton courts, basketball courts, pool tables and even an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Something interesting I heard about the swimming pool. Over there, every Thursday night is Ladies' Night. Unlike at the pubs, Ladies' Night there isn't a time where all you lovely ladies out there can pop by and get a free drink. Ladies' Night at the INTI swimming pool is the time where only girls can use the swimming pool, and no guys are allowed. So guys, remember to pack your binoculars. Right across the road from the Halls of Residence, linked by an overhead bridge, is the campus' illustrious academic wing. It feels a little bit more "authoritarian" over here. Nestled among nicely landscaped gardens, the long corridors, brightly lit classrooms and uptight labs give it a feel of campus life. The environment here is lovely. The acacemic wing of the campus is kinda similar to what you see in those Taiwanese college drama series like Meteor Garden. Without that stupid boyband F4. It is very quiet. There isn't a lot of things to do on this side of the campus ground apart from going to classes, going to the labs and using the library. Come to think of it, there isn't a lot of entertainment or distractions around Nilai in general. The town is isolated from all the entertainment and shopping malls of KL. Depending on how you see it, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Optimus Prime learns how to write If your purpose of going to college is to study, then it's a good thing. If your purpose of going to college is to party, it's a bad thing. Like most private university colleges in Malaysia, INTI-UC's main attraction is its 3+0 degree programmes where students can study at INTI-UC and graduate with degrees from UK's Coventry University and University of Hertfordshire. They also offer degree transfer programmes where you can do part of your studies at INTI-UC and complete the rest overseas. No doubt INTI-UC has a peaceful study environment and the students there do really concentrate on their studies. Many of them come to Nilai to study only and nothing else. It is very obvious, because they all have that look on their face that screams, "I'M A VIRGIN." Sorry for being mean. :P But of course, not all are like that. Some of the students are kinda cool. I spotted this bunch that looked like they should be accompanied with some hip hop music from P Diddy. Nilai is very laid back. Even without modern day entertainment outlets like cinemas, shopping malls and nightclubs as distractions, the students here sure come across as a happy bunch. They spend most of their free time participiating in club and society activities. Through these they get to know lots of new friends. I think I might die of boredom if I ever live in Nilai. But boredom isn't necessarily a bad thing. When you strip away all the superficialities of a big city, I guess you bond with people around you a lot better. Some graduates I spoke to really cherish the new friends they made there, to the extent that they said their time at INTI-UC is the best time of their lives. Nilai residents' most favourite past time is staring blankly at plants and watching them grow No ,I did not graduate from INTI-UC. But my short trip to the campus brought back nostalgic memories of my student days. Although I've been out in the workforce for almost 5 years now, it was during my uni years that I've grown up and learnt the most. Things hadn't always been smooth sailing of course. I remember the nightmares chasing assignment deadlines, working on Matlab, making friends with Ohm's and Kirchoff's Laws, learning everything about FIR, FFT and DFT until I wish the lecturer would just bloody STFU. Yes, it was torture. But it was worth it. I left my uni a much mature and better person in the end. Here in this blog, all entry titles prefixed with "ADV" are ads. What that means is that whilst the blog topic may be suggested by an advertisor, the content and experience are entirely my own. It is still 100% kennysia.com. That, and this entry is published while I'm at the transit lounge in Abu Dhabi Airport. :) What a name. Abu Dhabi. Diving With The Poor Knights While I was in NZ, I had my best diving experience ever at a place called the Poor Knights Islands. The Poor Knights Islands are called that way because from the way they're shaped, they kinda look like chess pieces of knights that have fallen down. They are located 40 minutes away by boat from the remote coastal town with a funny name called Tutukaka, which itself is some 150km north of Auckland. Diving in New Zealand ain't cheap. Then again, with views THIS amazing, I couldn't resist forking out the NZD$190 (RM500) it is required for the experience. Believe me, it was worth every single penny of it. There was nothing quite like dropping down below the crystal blue waters of the Pacific Ocean to find yourself surrounded by masses of beautiful marine life, kelp forests and an abundance of underwater caves. It was beautiful. An explorer once described Poor Knights Islands as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world, and I agree. Diving in NZ is definitely very different to diving in the tropics back home. Superman goes diving in New Zealand The water is cleaner. The visibility is clearer. The fish in NZ are bigger. Kinda like the women here too. Our dive guide brought us down to 30 metres - the deepest I've ever done. We explored a submerged cave and went through what they call an "underwater chimney". It was the most awesome experience ever. When we entered the cave it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. All I could do was paddle hopelessly in the dark. As we continued to swim aimlessly forward, suddenly this faint blue light came in from the end of the tunnel and I'm bathed in it. Swimming through that hole, it almost felt as if I was born again. I felt alive! Now I know what new-born babies went through when their mother squeezed them out. With water so clean and clear, I got up close to many sea creatures, like this tulan-looking moray eel. My guide pulled me away immediately after I took that shot because apparently this eel was coiled up ready to attack. The only problem going that deep down is that I used up my oxygen tank rapidly. By the time I got up the boat after the first dive, I was so sick and drowsy that I puked over the railings twice - something the Kiwis onboard joked as "more food for the fishies". It was worth it though. The one thing that continually impressed me about diving in NZ is how clean and pristine the Kiwis maintained their waters. For once, the destination truly lived up their brochure description of an "untouched paradise". I saw not even a single dead coral nor a speck of rubbish (except for my puke) while diving at Poor Knights Islands. It's amazing to see how gung-ho the Kiwis are on the climate change agenda. Every New Zealander has the habit to do all they can to protect their environment, and any damage to the natural habitat of wildlife is heavily frowned upon. Over there, anyone caught littering in the ocean will be thrown into the water to physically retrieve it. Over here, all we seem to know is how to pay lip service about "protecting our environment" and not do anything about it. And that's really unfortunate. It's unfortunate because Malaysia has among the world's largest bio-diversity, and yet we do not really seem to know how to treasure what we are blessed with. One example is the turtles we have in Malaysia, like what Su Ann said. Our turtle nests have been decreasing at such a scary rate.We don't know how blessed we are. People from all over the world travel to our doorsteps to watch our giant turtles hatch their eggs in their natural habitat. And what do we do? We sell those turtle eggs for RM1.60 each and eat them openly in the restaurants. Smart right? The reason the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand is so beautiful is because it's virgin and untouched. Everything there was left as it is with minimal development. If the Poor Knights Islands were located in Malaysia, I bet you two coconuts that the place will be filled with all types of buildings in no time. It's the same thing here in Sarawak. It's next to impossible for tourists to see our famous orang utans in the wild anymore because of all these massive deforestation that's been going on. When you rob these gentle creatures of their natural habitat, where else could they go? There's no space left. In Malaysia, conservation is always playing second fiddle to economic development and convenience. I think it's ridiculous, and really sad. Compared to countries like New Zealand, we certainly have a lot of catching up to do. Old habits are hard to break, but something about our attitude towards conservation has gotta change. So after reading Su Ann's blog, this is what I pledge to do. I used to eat turtle eggs everytime they were offered to me. I pledge that from now on, I will stop doing so. I used to do sweet nothing-at-all when people throw their rubbish off the boat. I pledge that from now on, I will give them hell. I used to scold people using "chao turtle". I pledge that from now on, I will not use turtles and scold them with "chao chicken" instead. Every little bit helps mah. WWF-Malaysia runs a fantastic turtle conservation program to protect turtle habitats and educate local communities, and I pledge my support for them. My first action start with a small donation of RM3 by sending an SMS with the text "WWFmy full namemy e-mail" to 39398. It's so easy to do, I did it and I urge everyone to do the same. Some people may be skeptical about donations, but there is nothing to worry. More information, including audited reports on how the donated fund was spent, can be found at wwf.org.my Change may not come overnight. But hey, hopefully every little action we do will mean something, and ultimately influence those around us. This community message is brought to you by kennysia.com ;)Has my country gone crazy? After the elections, everything has just gone weird. Barely 6 months ago, Anwar led a street protest, police threatened using ISA, and UMNO said street protest is "not a Malaysian culture." Now, we see UMNO organising street protests, the police threatened using ISA on them and DAP telling UMNO to "go through proper channels"? What next? Jeff Ooi waving his guitar (instead of keris) in parliament? Too Fast, Too Furious, Too Tired My travel schedule has been absolutely crazy this past week. No thanks to my perfectly planned schedule being disrupted by the elections, my two weeks worth of commitments were all pushed back and lumped into one single weekend. That's not an ambulance plane. That's just an airplane from Swiss Air Some people say they envy my life. Well my friend, you DO NOT want to live my kinda life. Especially not when it involves jumping on 5 different flights to attend 4 different events in 3 different cities. It's way too hectic. The way I look at it, hopping on an aeroplane is a bit like having sex. It was exciting the first few times you do it. But after a while, it just feels so bland and normal. (Disclaimer: This statement in no way implies that Kenny Sia is getting any. Kenny Sia is still a virgin. Just like Chua Soi Lek.) Last Wednesday, I took a 7am flight out from Kuching to KL for the filming of Malaysian Dreamgirl. The girls were getting their photoshoots done for Women's Secrets lingerie and I was there to work the show. Fiqa Under normal circumstances, watching twelve girls modelling in their bras and panties is supposed to be a very exciting thing. Yeah, of course I was excited at first. Which guy wouldn't? It's not everyday a guy gets to witness a lingerie photoshoot right? Nadia Problem is, we started filming at 3pm and didn't finish until 4am the next day. That's 13 hours of work to sit through (and we ended up using only 8 minutes of my footage). Not to mention I didn't get much sleep the night before because I caught an early morning flight. By the end of it all, I was so NUMB and TIRED I did not even get a kick out of looking at hot chicks in skimpy clothes anymore. It was scary, ok? Seriously, I was beginning to worry if my disinterest in women was caused by me being too tired, or if I was turning gay. The following day, I was flown to Bangkok to do a TV commercial. It's for a Malaysian snack food company. And no, it does not involve me grabbing a transvestite's boobie. It was fun because it was my first time acting in front of the cameras. The thing is, I had no idea it would take so long just to film a 30 second commercial. We took 12 hours in total, starting early at 6am and finishing at 6pm just to get the whole thing right. It was hard work and I was just one of the supporting casts, not the main guy. The reason why it was filmed in Thailand is because the Thais are known for making superbly hilarious commercials. Funny Thai commercials are all over Youtube. This one is no exception. I wish I could tell you more, but I couldn't. It was a very interesting experience for me and a real eye-opener working with the Thais. If I'm not mistaken, I might possibly be the first Malaysian blogger (who's not a trained actor nor a model) to be asked to appear in a big-budgeted TV commercial. Suffice to say, you will see the commercial here FIRST before it hits the TV screens once it's completed. The advertiser who hired me has told me that, and the premiere of this TV commercial will happen on kennysia.com. :) I wished I could enjoy Bangkok more but unfortunately I had to cut it short. I told Timothy I wouldn't miss Nuffnang's first year anniversary party for anything and I kept my word. Saturday night, I flew from Bangkok back to KL and immediately rushed straight to Borneo Baruk Club where the event was held. Dawn Yang of dawnyang.com Because of my flight, I arrived late and came in only when the event was starting to draw to a close. Nonetheless, it was nice to meet up with so many Malaysian and Singaporean bloggers, and everyone had a really good time. A few people noticed already that I looked tired, and that's true. Fact is, I hadn't been eating or sleeping right for the past few days. That night, I myself didn't sleep until 3am. And then I had to wake up at 5:30am to catch another early morning flight. This time, I flew from KL to Johor Bahru to deliver a blog seminar at the Landmark IT Mall Computer Fair. With barely 3 hours of sleep, the kids attending my seminar must've wondered why the organisers had invited a zombie to talk about blogs. In the evening on the same day, I flew back to Kuching. When I finally reached home that night, I was already tired as a hamster. So really, a typical week in the life of Kenny Sia is too fast, too furious, and honestly not that easy to handle. A lot of sacrifices has got to be made, particularly on my social life. If there's any consolation, at least I am getting paid for most of these side projects. It is a lot of stress, but at least it is fun and it is something different. I just really need to take a break though. So I'll be away tomorrow for the rest of March to escape, recharge my batteries and hopefully think of new ideas to pump back into kennysia.com. Ironically, that would involve stepping on the plane again to go to a foreign land. I need to do that, else I'd really go crazy. Don't worry, I'll be back.While I'm physically away taking a break for the next 2 weeks, kennysia.com will also be taking a (mostly) commercial break for the next 2 weeks as well. Advertorials are what keep this website financially logical to run. Despite the marketing undertones, I'm still the one writing them in my own words and with my own style. So please, support the people that supports kennysia.com :) If Thais Speak Hokkien Reader Hugh Koh sent this in to me from his Bangkok tour bus. I don't know what to say. Maybe they just wanna show people where the toilet is.Too many things to update, too little time. Jay Chou World Tour 2008 It was absolutely mindblowing. Say whatever you want about him. Call him overrated, call him an untalented actor, call him a sell-out. At the end of the day, there is absolutely no doubt that Jay Chou is THE biggest star to come out from the Chinese music industry. His sold out concert at the Stadium Merdeka proves just that. The funny thing is that I wasn't even supposed to be at the concert. I just happen to be in KL around that time when I found out about the event. Hotlink, as one of the co-main sponsors of the event, was gracious enough to extend a media pass for me. In return, I'm to cover the event on kennysia.com - which I plan to do so anyway. ;) Thanks to Hotlink, I attended the Jay Chou World Tour concert in KL as part of the media contingent. May I just say out of all honesty that the marketing comms people from Maxis are among the nicest I have dealt with. Not saying this just because they gave me free tix to the concert. I have dealt with hundreds of marketing people in my line of work, and the attentiveness of the two girls from Maxis, Catherine and Sham, are easily head and shoulders above the rest. As if it wasn't good enough that I attended the concert of a music artiste I idolised for so a long time, I was allowed to be in the media pit located right in front of the stage. By 8:30pm, the spotlights were dimmed one after another. I could literally feel the electricity in the air. The ground beneath my feet was rumbling. The 26,000 strong crowd were screaming their lungs out in pitch black. Before long, dancers dressed as terracotta warriors scuttled out on stage for a short opening sequence. A floating platform emerged from beneath the stage. On that platform is the headliner himself - Jay Chou. Just the mere sight of Jay live in person drove the entire Stadium Merdeka into a wild frenzy. Dressed in what can only be described as an elaborate piece of purple ancient warrior costume, Jay opened with a fast-paced number Huang Jin Jia (Golden Armor) from the movie soundtrack Curse of the Golden Flower. Rocking to the sounds of this energetic rock song, the Malaysian fans from the front to the back of the stadium screamed, jumped and danced to their heart's content. Jay Chou responded by tearing off his coat... ... into something a little lighter. Some say this outfit makes him look like a Chinese Michael Jackson, and I couldn't agree more. :P Sadly, we were only allowed to be in the media pit for the first three songs he performed. After my time was up, I was moved to the ticketed section on the other side of the stadium. But not before I caught this incriminating photo. HOR! WHAT IS THIS?! Lyrics on the TV screen!? Too bad got lyrics on the screen, he still didn't use it. Quite a few times during the concert, he forgot the lyrics to his own songs and impromised by muttering some nonsensical gibberish. Blame his lyric writer Fang Wen Shan for writing such cheemology Chinese. After the first few uptempo songs, Jay followed up with his more soulful melodies like Zhui Hou De Zhan Yi (The Final Battle), Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi (Secret) and Tui Hou (uhh... Go-stan?) A lot of effort was put into the visual presentation of each set of his performance, and I love it. For Niu Zai Hen Mang (Busy Cowboy), he got his posse to dressed as clowns and Vegas showgirls. They even did a line dance and Jay Chou wiggled his ass on stage. I thought was damn gay, but the fan girls love it anyway. Jay Chou mah. Anything he does, they'll suck up to it one. Jay Chou's musical career started because he loves to play the piano, and the audience was treated to see just how good he is at it. His famed crystal piano made an appearance during his performance of Hei She You Mo (Black Humour). Here, Jay showcased his amazing piano skills, playing Chopin's many pieces before breaking into solos for songs like An Jing (Quiet) and Zui Chang De Dian Ying (The Longest Movie). It was just him and the piano, and it was all really very romantic. It was so romantic that you could propose to any girl in attendance, and they would willingly accept your hand in marriage. To watch Jay Chou perform these classics live on the crystal piano is already worth the price of admission itself, but he gave us more. Chinese theatrics accompanied the performance for Qian Li Zhi Wai (Thousand Miles Away) and Qing Hua Ci (Porcelain Vase), which he sung beautifully like he was singing Chinese opera. Another kick-ass moment was when a giant red shoe and two ah lian dancers appeared and danced around Jay Chou during his performance of Ye Qu (Evening Melody). The outfit those two dancers wore reminded me of this one girl who auditioned for Malaysian Dreamgirl. Those who watched the first episode will know which one I'm talking about. ;) Sexy tango dancers in red for Mi Die Xiang, which is a jazzy lounge-y number. One of the girls had a HUGE smile on her face when she got to do her tango one-on-one with Jay. The highlight of the concert for me was when Jay Chou introduced his proteges Nan Quan Ma Ma onto stage. Armed with a musical instrument each, the group held a very cool unplugged session. They interacted with the crowd, talked about Malaysia and performed re-worked versions of some Jay Chou classics like Ren Zhe and Shuang Jie Gun. This part of the evening was my favourite because it was as intimate as it could get. Definitely one of the rare times I see the singer-songwriter side of this often times very commercialised artiste. He even sang a brilliant Theresa Teng classic Ni Zhen Me Shuo (How Do You Say), dedicated to the older fans in attendance just so they don't feel left out. The concert lasted for about 2 full hours. Twice, Jay Chou teased the crowd by exiting the stage and dimming the spotlights, prompting all 26,000 of his fans to yell "ENCORE! ENCORE!" Then suddenly he'll pop out and make everyone cheer like crazy again. But eventually it was time to draw the concert to a close. The finale was damn awesome. Jay rapped to Shuang Jie Gun, holding the microphone on one hand and playing with a nunchaku on the other. For the final few lines of the songs, fireworks boomed and shot up to the skies everytime he sang "HUR!". It was so cool I can't even begin to describe it. Personally, I thought the concert was exceptionally well done from top to bottom! I totally enjoyed myself. Jay is always known for being shy and introverted, but at the conert he entertained us with such vigor and intensity. That just goes to show what a talented performer he is. Some songs he sang at the concert also brought back some memories. During my student days, it was Jay Chou's songs that took me through many uni assignments, many friendships and heartbreaks. It was surreal yet at the same time nostalgic for me to witness this same person performing live in the flesh right in front of me. It was like somehow he played a part of my life. For that, I'm really appreciative being given an opportunity to witness Jay Chou live in concert. Never in my life would I expect to be given this chance. Thanks again, Hotlink. ;) Here's a video I took on snippets of the Jay Chou World Tour concert in KL. One thing I know for sure, this wouldn't be the last time I attend his concert.Okay I need some honest opinion here. What do you think of this Chinese dude's singing? A couple of readers sent it in to me saying like he's so good, but I reckon he's too emo to make it into the big times. ADV: Even Malaysians Can Be Irish On St Patrick's Day Everyone wanna be Irish on St Patrick's Day. Even if you're just a poor clueless little Malaysian. St Patrick's Day on the 17th March is a holiday originating from Ireland, where the Irish feasts all day long to commemorate the death of their heroic patron saint. Legend has it that good ol' St Pat banished the snakes from Ireland and into the sea, thereby saving Ireland from certain doom. Not much is known about the snakes after they've been banished into the sea. But I'm pretty sure those snakes swam across the ocean into Malaysia, where they eventually grow up to become Petaling Street vendors. No wonder they always try to rip people off! Still, it was funny how last time when St Patrick caught snakes he was regarded as a hero. Nowadays if we try to "catch snake" during working hours, we get scolded by our bosses. Ridiculous. Anyway, I was invited by the good guys at Guinness for the media launch of their St Patrick's Day celebrations in KL. With good food, good company and freeflow of Guinness Draught offered all night long, of course I jumped at the opportunity lah! The event was to kick-start a month-long celebration of all things Irish and Guinness. After enjoying such immense popularity worldwide, Ireland's favourite black beer is bringing the spirit of St Patrick's Day to Malaysia. And I think it's fair that they bring St Patrick's Day to us. After all, we gave them like... Chinese New Year? The evening was cheery and jovial despite it being a media event. We were served not just Guinness Draught, but a nice selection of sushis, nachos and quiches as well. Truly international! Even the Guinness Draught served that evening was unique. The ice-cold beer was poured into the glass, then placed on a special surger unit to create "the perfect pint" - black at the bottom, and a creamy layer of froth on top. Halfway through the celebrations, a bunch of dancers came out wearing some outrageous hats with famous buildings on them, to signify how St Patrick's Day is celebrated internationally. Sorry lah, but the last time I had to wear something like that on my head was when my teacher punished me in primary school. Fortunately, the real part of entertainment that evening came later, when Emmanuel Stroobant from AFC's Chef In Black showcased his culinary skills in front of the live audience. The celebrity chef was tasked with coming up with a dish using Guinness as its key ingredient. It was really quite amazing to watch how he did it. I thought the guy is simply gonna pour Guinness on a rack of lamb and just say, "Nah, that's your dinner!" But no. He smoked it. He iced it. He ground it. Chef Emmanuel's cooking demonstration sure beats me trying to cook Maggi. In the end, the chef came out with Guinness-flavoured ice cream, and what can only be described as Smoked Guinness Lamb. It was really quite special. I mean, if you asked me how to make Smoked Guinness Lamb, I'll probably just get a lamb, feed it some Guinness, stuff a bunch of cigarettes in its mouth and say, "Nah, your Smoked Guinness Lamb" The good news is, throughout the whole of March only, everyone can enjoy these good Guinness infused cuisine at participating outlets throughout KL. Bossa Nova at Parkroyal, Bulldog, Delaney's, Jarrod & Rawlins, Nikko Hotel and Sevenatenine will all be serving their own Guinness-inspired creations specially for St Patrick's Day. In the meantime, see if you've got the luck of an Irish by playing the game at guinness.com.my There's phat prizes to be won if you're one of the top three scorers: a Dell Inspiron laptop, a Canon Ixus digital camera and an Apple iPod Touch. That's some pretty flash prizes just for playing such a simple game. The celebration in Malaysia will culminate with the main event - the Guinness St Patrick's Festival this Saturday, 15th March at Plaza Mont'Kiara. There'll be some serious entertainment going on from 5pm onwards. Not forgetting of course - loads of beer, a slice of the Irish culture, and the magic of the Chef in Black himself. If you love to party, there's no reason not to be at Plaza Mont'Kiara this Saturday. It's the next best thing to celebrating St Patrick's Day in Ireland itself. ;)Blog Plug of the Day: Malaysian politics as told by LOLcats. I call it... LOLitics. Before And After This is the BERSIH Rally, last year on the 10th November. 40,000 Malaysians of all races took it to the streets of KL to campaign for free and fair elections. It was a largely peaceful protest according to many people who were there. However, the police saw fit to fire tear-gas and water cannons towards the crowd. Many see the police's heavy-handed tactics as unnecessary. Four policemen arrest one PKR's Tian Chua The actions of BERSIH were damned to hell by the newspapers. Despite all that, the Election Commission eventually caved in and used transparent ballot boxes and indelible ink for this election. Nevermind the fact that RM2 million worth of indelible ink was not used at the last minute. During the protest, Malaysia made international headlines when our delusional Information Minister stutter and stammer his way onto Al Jazeera news. In what can only be described as a "The Zam Rap", Zainuddin Maidin, fondly known as Zam, blasted out against the interviewer, uttering such famous phrases as, "You think that we Pakistan, we are Burma, we are Myanmar!" And, "You-you-you-you are here with the idea, you are trying to project, what is your mind!" Fast forward to the 2008 Elections. Zam suffered a heavy defeat and lost his parliamentary seat to PKR. Even Tun Mahathir laughed at him, saying that "the way he was campaigning was really funny, telling people to look at his face and how it doesn't change." Because he is no longer an elected MP, Zam must therefore step down as Information Minister. His face finally changed I say good riddance. He was never good at that job anyway. Among his many achievements in his 2 years, Zam has called bloggers stupid, suggested classifying bloggers as 'professional' and 'non-professional', and managed to say with a perfectly straight-face that Malaysian news media is not biased. Of course now that he lost, he's probably gonna say that the election is not fair. Maybe next time before the next elections, we might see Zam in the news again like this. "You think that we Pakistan, we are Burma, we are Myanmar!"This coming Sunday (16th March), I'll be delivering a blog seminar in Johor Bahru for the Landmark IT Mall Computer Fair. I heard that they hung a bloody h