It's Daughtry, Baby!

It was a last minute thing, but I managed to blag a ticket for the Traffic Jam Street Party with Daughtry at Central Park Avenue, One Utama just a couple of hours ago. Thanks to Yovein and Sher. You guys rock!

But by the time I got the Central Park around 9.15pm, a couple of warm-up acts had already done their sets. And it felt at that time that the whole place kinda lacked atmosphere. Probaby it was still early and a steady light drizzle was subduing things a little.

But the VIP tent was a pretty cool setup. Pretty spacious and offered the best seats at the venue. VIPers also had the option of moving straight to the front of the stage, which was where I was parked for most of the night.

And oh yeah, apart from the regular finger foods, the good people of Sony Ericsson also served up Starbucks coffee and mee hoon (a controlled item these days, mind you)...

And hour later, the warm up acts were still playing. And while Daniel Lee and the Stylistiks are great performers in their own right, it simply felt like they were at the wrong party lah. People wanted to rock and what they got was Sean Kingston remixes instead...

By 10.30, the crowd was getting a little antsy and even cheered for the amp covers being taken off. Indeed, the set-up guys were pretty popular...

At 11 sharp, it was finally time to rock out with the man Daughtry himself. Woo hoo! The sound was pretty good and the energy of the whole band was above average.

Overall, Chris and co delievered almost all the tracks on their debut CD with a couple of new tunes thrown in. The dude can sing, but probably needs to brush up on the crowd interaction bit.


50 mins into the set, they called it a nite but after (somewhat enthusiastic) chants of "We want more!" Daughtry returned for an encore which included the monster hit "Home"...

Overall, it was a straight-forward power-packed performance devoid of any gimmicks. But I don't think anyone was complaining...

* Download Daughtry tunes by clicking here

Luna Fantasiku Launch Video

Hairy Issue

OK I know that for someone in his early to mid-thirties (ok, ok, mid-thirties lah), hair style shouldn't be an issue. But hey, I'm in showbusiness baby, and I need to look good for that occasional TV appearance and well, for this blog : ) Hence the current dilemma. Truth is, I'm a sucker for trends as well and I've been thinking about going botak. Uh huh.

But it's a gamble, I know. What if I'm actually a conehead? Then I'd have to go Samy Vellu, which would be a total disaster. So what do I do?

Maintain this current boring look?

Or go really short again?

Or what the hell, just keep it long and relive those glory days of a few years back...

Hmm... decisions, decisions

ntv7's 10th Anniversary Party

So last night, the feel good channel (and the number 1 chinese station in the country) ntv7 had a grand do at the KL Convention Centre. The venue brought back memories for me cos it was at the same ballroom that we relaunched The Malay Mail a couple of years ago.

Anyway, it was a rare case where most guests arrived early (including moi), mainly due to the anticipation of those pesky roadblocks being set up in and around KL. So a few hundred people were seen milling about in the foyer area a good one hour before tha ballroom doors finally opened. But I did take a peak inside and was thoroughly impressed by the chic and grand setup. Great job guys!

And while waiting for the festivities to start, naturally the camera started to snap away...

With ntv7 CEO Dato Anothony Bujang. Congrats Dato'!

With C-Lan Paul... (notice the bling on the man)
With famous blogger Budiey

With Metrowealth mogul David Teo

The real party started close to 8.30pm when MC Jien greeted the guests and VIPs and got the ball rolling. Side news: Jien and wife ex Channel [V] VJ Sarah Tan welcomed a baby some 3 months back and they're now one truly happy family. But er, I forgot to ask if it was a boy or girl. Duh.

Plenty of performances were lined-up including some of the best the local industry's got to offer like Ning Baizura, Anuar Zain, Faizal Tahir and Suki.

ntv7 anniversary

The Queen of Outrageous Joanne Kam Poh Poh also performed. And as usual she got the crowd all hot and flustered with a string of dirty jokes and anecdotes, even dragging a couple of lucky men on to the stage for added effect. (Photos of which are unpublishable I'm afraid. Ahem)

Highlight of night of course was the blowing of candles on a gigantic 10 Feel Good Years Cake.

Which tasted pretty good...

Thanks for the wonderful time and congrats again to ntv7 for 10 very feel good years!

Watch special ntv7 anniversary promo here

ADV: Mencari Kawan Karina Contest

Debat!

Honestly, I never thought the debate between Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Info Minister would ever take place. But it did. And it was a really good watch. Almost as good as all those Obama v Clinton debates I watched a couple of months back.

And here are the top 2 things I learnt from last night's debate:

1. Always, always have a handkerchief with you
2. Our tranportation system sucks because Venezuela has very high inflation (yeah, I don't get it either)

But if you missed the show, it's currently available on the TV3 and TV9 portals. So click HERE or HERE to watch.

Tiada Sekali by Tunku Tiara

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the music video of "Tiada Sekali", the theme song for Kerana Karina 2, performed by Tunku Tiara. KK2's director Aidil Fitri, also directed the video ...

Belangkas Anyone?

So during Karnival Jom Heboh in JB I was introduced to a number of Tunku Tiara's family members, who're no doubt a friendly lot. They were at the GUA booth to support Tiara, and I was soon invited to their own gerai which was located at one of the Rumah Limas on the other side of Danga Bay.

It was called "Promosi Makanan Melayu Johor & Santapan Kerabat Johor", organised by Persatuan Zuriat Ungku Mohd Khalid, JB and what got my curiosity peaked was the presence of belangkas on the menu. "You should try it. I don't eat it myself, but you should try it," said one of Tiara's aunt, YM Tunku Jacky.

And so when break time came, Johan (Nawawi) and I marched over to the Rumah Limas, and ordered a number of things, including the famed belangkas. Tiara's dad YM Tunku Hassan also joined us and sold us on the belangkas as well, which looked like this...



Did it taste like chicken? Well, not really. The only edible part was in fact the eggs, and it tasted more like turtle eggs, but with a harder texture, of course. And after a few suapan, it started to taste quite good really. YM Tunku Hassan told us that the belangkas is much sought-after now and its blood goes for ridiculously high prices due to its medicinal values. But I'll settle for the eggs, thank you.

What else did we have? Well, I simply couldn't pass on some nice 'ol Laksa Johor. True blue Johorean I am, and damn proud of it... : )

Luna Fantasiku Launched!

Luna Fantasiku – is that a great title or what? And you can bet that the drama itself will be something special. It is after all, Aziz M. Osman’s first ever online drama.

Yes, THE Aziz M. Osman. Never thought that all those years back when I was watching that masterpiece of a movie, Fenomena, we would eventually be collaborating on a project. But here we are, and this being a first for Aziz, who’s done tons of successful stuff for the small and silver screens, makes the project even sweeter.

Anyway, the launch and PC was held on Tuesday at The Apartment at the Curve. And the press turnout was good as usual. Well done, team!

What’s also special about Luna is that Aziz had sought out fresh new faces to introduce to the market. And the lead actress, Miera Leyana, is only 15-years-old! Can be our own Miley Cyrus lah!
luna fantasiku

Nana (as she likes to be called) plays the title character Luna, who is this dude Midus’s (played by Ahmad Sakhee) fantasy gal. Midus is a comic illustrator who’s just broken up with his gal Sarah (played by Scha who’s also in our guamuzik TVC). He dreams of meeting a gal just like Luna of Final Fantasy, his favourite anime.

Midus then bumps into this Luna lookalike, and that’s when the line between fantasy and reality blurs.

To make the story even more exciting, Aziz incorporated some of his famed special effects. A first for GUA, really. Some scenes were also shot in Singapore.



So expect to see a quirky and offbeat rom-com with elements of fantasy, anime and cyber dating thrown in. Doesn’t that sound like so much fun already?



Luna Fantasiku debuts on GUA this Friday (11th July) and you can catch new episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

To read more, click here and here. For more pics, click here.

Luna Fantasiku Trailer

Luna Fantasiku - GUA's Latest Exclusive Drama

Luna Fantasiku is also Aziz M. Osman's first ever online drama. Catch it beginning this 11th July! New episodes every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Exclusively on http://www.gua.com.my/

Kerana Karina 2 Final Episode Today!

Guys, the 24th and last episode of Kerana Karina 2 comes on today. So don't forget to watch the heart-wrenching conclusion!

The other great news is that there will be a "Mencari Kawan Karina" contest, jointly organised with our sponsor KAO Laurier, where the lucky winner (female only) will guest star in Kerana Karina 3!

All this is happening at www.gua.com.my/keranakarina2 You can catch all 24 episodes as well if you haven't done so.

Finally, if you want to watch Kerana Karina 1 again, it's now out on DVD! Yes, it is all about Karina...

Jom Heboh JB - Memang Heboh!

So the “Perhimpunan sejuta rakyat” DID take place last weekend, but it was down in JB for the Karnival Jom Heboh, which GUA was a part of.

And I’m not exaggerating. Just look at the picture…
jom heboh

Although it rained on both days, the people just never stopped coming. Which of course means it was a huge success. Bravo!

And for GUA, it was our first visit to JB and what a sporting lot my kampung people turned out to be : ) Both of our main activities, the guamuzik Idol singing competition and the Kerana Karina open audition, received great response to say the least. But then again, it wasn’t really huge a surprise knowing how talented Johoreans are. Ahem.

Even our guest artistes were true-blue JB gals, Dina and Tunku Tiara. Both of them played games with the booth visitors and also sang a song or two. Tiara was also one of the judges for our own Idol alongside yours truly and Johan Nawawi.

jom heboh

Registration of new members was also opened and that has helped to push GUA registered membership to more than 110,000!

But it was the guamuzik Idol that had people thronging to the booth. And the final held on the second day did see a lineup of decent talents battling it out for the Idol crown which also came with a speaker system, an MP3 player and GUA goodies.

So overall, KJH JB was an awesome success. And as we like to say here at Media Prima, “Penatnya, tapi berbaloi… Bonus nanti bagi lebih skit boleh?”

And oh, even the MB popped by for a visit…

Yes, It's One Of THOSE Days...

I don't know, maybe it's poor planning, coincidence or the universe having a good laugh, but it's the sort of day that keeps repeating itself over and over again.

So today, I have to complete some lyrics, QC some very important videos, write a speech, chair a meeting, attend ANOTHER meeting and by the end of the day, launch a drama.

Oh what drama... But it'll be a breeze (as usual).

GUA @ MHI (30th June 08)