Memoirs of a Teh Tarik Drinker

Workout Ideas: TehTarik 5 Abs Circuit

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:50:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> The one thing that I believe a lot of people would want when ti comes to workouts is to achieve that "washboard" six pack abs that most people would see in magazines. However almost everyone who makes an effort to do it would know that the abdominal area would be one of the most difficult area to work with, especially for the guys.

[Basic anatomy of abs]

Similarly with the gang in the gym, at the moment we are trying out a new routine that I would love to share with you guys to see what you think. Our target is to continuously try this out for the next 3 months to see the result behind it and give a month to month update as to how it develops for our body.

[click on title to read more!]

TehTarik's 5 Abs Circuit

We decided to split the sessions into two so that it would not be too boring for the person to do in the next 3 months. Take your usual workout session, and we basically have abs workout BEFORE and AFTER your workout session.

Before Workout

[Wallclimbers]

We start off with non-stop session of one set of five work outs. Each workout will start and ended with a wallclimber as shown below.

[Crunches]

The alternative crunch I am showing below are basically like your normal crunch but instead of going upwards, you make sure that you elbow touched your knee in every crunch so that you get the squeeze on your sides each time.

[Crunch with right leg tap]

[Crunch with left leg tap]

[Leg paddle]

[Plank]

So the procedure for this set is basically continuous throughout the entire list of workouts which would basically look something like this:

Wallclimbers - 30 secs

Crunches - 10 reps

Wallclimbers -30 secs

Crunch with Right Leg Tap - 10 reps

Wallclimbers - 30 secs

Crunch with Left Leg Tap - 10 reps

Wallclimbers - 30 secs

Leg paddle - 20 reps

Wall climbers - 30 secs

Plank - 30 secs

Amount of sets to do - 1

This would generally take me about 5 minutes to complete and would act as a warm up for me before going on to training because by the time you are done with this, I would expect you to sweat it up big time which would be perfect for your workout.

After which, you would then continue on to your normal routine of workouts you have planned for the day...

Once you resistance workout is done, we have decided to add in another abs session to continue on the burn. This time around we have a circuit of 5 workouts which we would conclude in 3 sets.

After Workout

Similarly to the ones we did above, the circuit workout is continuous so that you don't waste too much time over resting between sets.

[Weighted Crunches]

[Roman Twist Weighted]

[Rope Crunch]

[Crunch]

[Leg Raise]

So in completion, the entire circuit would look something like this:

Weighted Crunches - 15 reps

Roman Twist Weighted - 10 reps per side

Rope Crunch - 15 reps

Crunches - 15 reps

Leg Raise - 15 reps

Total number of sets - 3 sets

Again, we try to keep the rest period short as to ensure that we do not over rest between workouts but also in the same time, take a breather because it can get quite exhausting. The idea is to ensure that you have a high intensity training session constantly which not only helps with the workout but burn fat as well.

So far we have gone in about a week doing this routine and I have to say that my tummy is killing me at the moment. Then again all for a good reason I suppose. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress that I have made with this routine by the end of the month.

If you guys are also looking to try out this routine, do let me know what you guys think of if you guys have any suggestions or thoughts as well, please do write on the comment below.

Happy Workout!

Teh Tarik Reviews: Iron Man 3

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 03:26:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> This is by far the most difficult review I have ever written, just because that I am a little torn on how to comment on the movie. One of the most anticipated movie of the year, obviously there is A LOT of expectation that is put on this movie.

Once again I am given the great opportunity thanks to the good people of Nuffnang to attend a preview screening of a movie franchise that I hold dear to my heart. That is because I am firstly a geeky fan boy of anything Marvel or DC related and its a movie of machines that form a protective armor around your body and kicks ass. What man would not love that?

[CLICK ON TITLE TO READ MORE!]

Please be mindful that for this review, I have to admit that I am very biased on the movie. One must understand that I have spend A LOT of my childhood days reading the comics thoroughly and basically following most of the storyline in the Iron Man series. So far the first two movies of this franchise was amazing and so there is a lot of expectation coming in for this movie. At least from me....

The story follows Tony Stark, who was facing severe signs of Post Traumatic Stress following the events of the Avengers in New York. Just as things were getting complicated in his personal life, a shadowy villain from his past emerges that threatens global domination and takes out Tony's best defenses using a viral biological weapon called Extremis. With the face of evil called Mandarin claiming responsibilities on all these attack, Tony now has to go back to basics to trace back his own past and fight, only to find his inner demons and his past are now jeopardizing not only himself but the ones he love.

Before I go to my usual rating, I would like to give my general review of this movie. There are two lights to look to this movie. As a normal movie watcher, the movie was friggin amazing! The was never a time there was a lack of action that was going on in the movie and it was a time when you really felt beneath the armor, Tony Stark really is just like one of us. Apart from the expected performance from RDJ, kudos has to be given to Guy Pearce for creating one hell of an image for Aldrich Killian.

However...

As a true blue Iron Man fan, I am slightly disappointed with how the movie was portrayed. Although I have to admit that the "humane" storyline of Tony Stark was a great way to progress in the plot, the development of character for both Tony and the bad guys in the movie was rather stale. I was truly expecting more from the movie...

Putting those two opinions into consideration, these are my reviews!

Would I watch it again? : I actual would, just to get the finer details of the movie. And of course to rewatch the final fight scene which was bloody epic!

Movie or DVD worthy? : Movie worthy but avoid 3D for this. There is a lot of action going on this movie which might get you head spinning in the first 10 minutes into the movie

Plot : I found the plot was a little predictable to be honest but I found the lines in the movie was seriously great! The twist to the plot was seen later on in the middle of the movie, which to my opinion lowered my rating for this movie.

Star Power : As mentioned above, the expected performance of RDJr was not short of the hype but major kudos should be given for both Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley for their performance as Aldrich and the Mandarin respectively.

Teh Tarik Rating : In retrospect, I did enjoy the movie experience as a whole but was a little short on my expectation. I'll put in a debatable 7 out of 10 for this one.

I believe that there will be alot that would disagree with my review which I completely welcome their opinions on this matter. Personally as a Iron Man fan-geek, I do have some problem with the development of the story line here but was still in awe with the graphics of the movie.

Please share your thoughts on this guys. Would love to hear it.

[ADV] Iron Man 3 : My Way

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:55:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> I believe the buzz that is going around in movie town is the upcoming movie and quite easily one of the most anticipated sequel of the year. I think there is little doubt that most people would be more interested to know more about the armor that Tony Stark will be using especially after the little sneak peak that we have seen with a lot of the different version of the armor being showcased in the trailer.

[That scene that made us fanboys squeal....]

So the question is, what would my ideal Iron Man suit look like?

The good people of Nuffnang did pose this question to all of us and I have to admit, it is not the first time I actually gave this topic a thought. There are a few things that I would have considered to include in my ideas particularly:

1) Lightweight and Easy to Wear - the one thing I would imagine to improve would be the sheer bulk of the suit itself. Making it light (to the point of it like being a second skin) to the user's body would make it much more flexible to use and in the heat and weather in Malaysia, come at least the user would not suffer from a heat stroke!

2) Far more menacing looking helmet - While the iconic helmet is awesome, I believe that it needs a far more menacing looking helmet which would scare the living bananas off people on first instance. Of course that would also include all the technology that would be part of the suit itself.

3) Enhanced Super Strength Suit - one of my dream technology to be included in the Iron Man suit is the fact that every movement that you make is enhanced by the suit to make your actions near super human. Which means your movement becomes faster, your punches become heavier, your reactions become quicker and everything else in your arsenal. That way, weapons become secondary to the suit and its only left with a good old fashion clobbering!

So, with these description in mind, I would love to actually have the suit to replicate my descriptions above. Unfortunately I do have one but if the suit above can be a reality, it would look something like this...

[The menacing helmet and the iconic Iron Man chestplate!]

[CLICK ON TITLE TO READ MORE!]

[Introducing the Iron Man : Mark T3h!]

I decided not to change the red and gold color of the suit because people would already recognize IronMan in that color and also the actual design of the suit. My major change would be the helmet, which is of course derived from my original T.E.H Suit to fight zombies! Pretty cool no?

[Side view of the armor]

As mentioned above, the idea for the suit is to be so lightweight that it would act like a second skin to maximize the movement of wearer while retaining the strength of the armor. In a situation where you would have to fight baddies everywhere in different locations, the last thing you would want is to get stuck in a situation where your movement is limited because of the bulk of the armor!

So basically this would be what I imagine would be a glimpse of ideas I would incorporate to the Iron Man armor, despite the rather crude portrayal of it (very limited resources guys...). But one thing for certain though, rumor has it that there would be so much more ideas that will be included in the new Iron Man 3 movie, including my all time fav which is the Hulkbuster Armor!

Can't wait for the movie folks! :D

#Twinsters : A Real Life Fairytale of Two Long Lost Twins

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:16:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> Sometimes when we grow old, we kinda stop believing in miraculous things in our lives, for whatever reason. I have to admit that I too am guilty of this as well. But recently I came across a story of two ladies which blew my mind.

A real "Parent Trap" story.

[Click on the title to read more!]

I picked up this story while I was reading my usual reads in The Sun UK (an old habit of mine when I was still studying in UK) and came across this story. Two girls, one living in America and the other living in London realized after watching a few videos on Youtube that they looked exactly alike. Thinking that it was a typical "doppelganger" situation, things got freaky when they found out that they were both born on the same date and same place before they were sent for adoption.

Samathan Futerman is actually an aspiring actress, known for making appearances in Memoirs of a Geisha and the upcoming "21 and Above" movies, lives in America and is known also for making appearance in Youtube star Kev Jumba's videos every now and then.

Previously she has made a few videos on her own Youtube channels and has a considerable amount of following both on her Twitter account and Youtube account.

Anaïs Bordier is a fashion student originally from France but currently residing in London who is your average uni student with a considerably average uni life and a huge obsession with cheese.

This is where it gets interesting...

While watching a few trailers online, a few of Anais' friends caught a glimpse of Samantha in an clip trailer of the upcoming movie "21 and Above" and were amazed on how she looks EXACTLY like Anais. Instantly they took the opportunity to show it to her and even she could not belief how identical they look. So she decided to do a bit of research on Samantha and found something interesting.

Both girls were born on the same date in South Korea. Both girls were obsessed with the same food. And most importantly, both girls were adopted by two different families as a child.

[The original message from Anais to Sam]

Immediately after knowing this news, Anais decided to contact Sam through Facebook and told her what she found and decided to ask her contact her and check out her own Facebook to see the pictures. Sam quickly obliged and was equally amazed and shocked to see Anais.

Upon finding this out, both girls then decided to get connected and also decided that they needed to find out the lingering possibility, whether or not they can actually be two long lost sisters.

[Sam's Instagram post of her own findings!]

So they decided to raise some funds in hope that they would be able to finally meet and take a DNA test to find out whether they are actually sisters. In order to do so, they have decided to actually film the entire thing and document their experiences through the whole journey.

So they decided to start a Kickstarter account to raise money for the project (click on the image to find out more) and have so far raised far more than they expected to raise to actually make this happen. They pretty much got everyone that is backing them up to be involved with this project and are going to update and document their findings online!

Read more on their full story here!

Personally I feel that its amazing that you can still have stories like this in a world filled with heartbreaking stories everywhere. Its the kind of story that you would expect to read from story books and unbelievably enough, you see this kind of stories happening in real life here.

I for one would be glued to see the updates from this and would love to see what happens to them later on. Honestly its not always you can see a story like this pop out and have a possibly great outcome out of all of this and I would urge everyone out there to actually follow this story because sometimes you need to hear amazing stories like this to make yourself believe that the world is not just a dark and gloomy place all the time.

Looking forward to finding out the conclusion of this story!

I will definitely put the updates here!

Also do show them some love and support guys!

Teh Tarik Reviews : Oblivion

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:35:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> Its been a while since I last watched a movie that was seriously "mind challenging" for me, where I would have to sit and concentrate really hard to make sure I don't miss out anything within the plot. Previously I had that feeling with "Inception" and even "Minority Report", where at the end who cannot help but scream "AWWW HELLL NAH!" when you realized what the plot was going to.

This is one of those movies

Once again many thanks to the great people at Nuffnang for the movie op and boy it is a good one.If you are those who love a good plot in a movie, complete with surprises that you would not expect then this movie is seriously the one for you.

[Click on the title to read more!]

Set in the near future, the sheer brilliance of how the story started and how it escalated to the end was fantastic. Just like the previous movies I was really impressed with the way how the story line moves from one point to another and most importantly, stops people from trying to guess where the story would go by switching the plot to another direction. Brilliant.

The plot follows in the near future of 2017 where the world is attacked by an invasion of aliens that were looking to invade the planet and its resources. For 60 years, the war was then won by man but left the planet as a barren wasteland as a result of the use of nuclear weapons. The story then followed Jack Harper and Victoria Olsen, a maintenance crew that handles the main security drones while they take whatever resources they have left on Earth to move to a new planet, Titan while under the watchful eyes of the control tower Tet. However one routine check up later, Jack found some things that was not right and suspiciously changes what they actually know about the war 60 years ago. Worse still, what they are actually facing as their enemy...

As usual, my review for the movie are as follows!

Would I watch it again? : A big yes on this one. The sheer brilliance on the plot seriously kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. And of course I was annoying Miss Ave T the entire time by making repeated remarks on possible "past Tom Cruise movies" references. :D

Movie or DVD worthy? : Hit the movies for this one, seriously. Unless you are too ashamed to scream "OH NO HE DIDN'T!" out loud in the movie theater. I had no problems doing that.

Plot : It is extremely rare for you to have a plot this good. From start to finish you are treated with continuous surprises even though you think you already have the entire plot figured out. I have to be honest that there were times it was a little draggy (the love scenes were slightly irritating) but other than that it was brilliant.

Star Power : Big names in this one, with both Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman playing a major role for the flick. Big shout out to Olga Kurylenko (famous from James Bond) who I though made a great performance portraying a completely "human" emotions of a person who basically has lost everything and didn't know where the hell she is.

Teh Tarik Rating : I'll give this one a big 9 out of 10! A definite must watch!

I believe I cannot stress this enough, this movie is SERIOUSLY A GOOD MOVIE and I actually had so much fun watching it. This is because as a generally known geek, I did have so many expectation for a futuristic sci fi movie starring Tom Cruise and it really did reach the hype of the movie. One this is certain though, there will be so many that would be asking so many questions at the end of the movie....

Do post some here, I would to discuss them with you! :D

[ADV] WeChat Media Launch

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:07:00 +0000

The one thing that I realized in this day and age of telecommunication, there has been countless ways of people talking via their mobile phones, it can sometimes be quite confusing for a novice smartphone user like myself. Today we have applications on phones that specifically does a task. You got an apps that chats with other people, you have apps that makes free phone calls to other users and even apps that are used to send in files or pictures to other people. Its hard sometimes to keep up with all these apps...

But what if there is an application that can do it all?

Introducing : WeChat!

Over the weekend, I was given the opportunity to check out the launching of a new app that is set to sweep the nation. I was told this app has THE MOST FUNCTIONS UNDER ONE APP for smartphone users so far which I found supremely impressive.

[Long queue at the entrace of Neverland KL]

So as I made my way to the event at Neverland KL, I did have to go through a long queue in front of the club while waiting outside in the rain. My luck with events and weather sometimes do baffle me...

While waiting, I did get to meet a lot of familiar faces walking in and out of the club and said my hellos. By then I could see a lot of people were excitedly checking out the features with this app and were busy snapping away with their cameras. As I made my way in the club, I too had to check out what the hype was all about this app.

[Banners at the event!]

I found out that the impressive line of features it has in the application and they were literally demonstrating the app on site itself.

What the program actually does it not only allow its user to "type chat" with one another but have an integrated system which allows a variety of ways for a person to use the app to connect with their users. Some of the features that differentiates itself with other applications are:

Video Call - Users can use this function to talk, both video and/or audio conversations with their friends via the application. In other words, free online phone calls!

Moments - If the user wants to share a picture with their friends in the app, this is where they would be able to upload the pictures they want.

Push-to-Talk Voice Chat - a step up to the video call, the "push to talk" function allows the users to talk without dialing for the other person. Use the phone just like a walkie talkie!

Emoticons - while most apps are limited to a set number of emoticons that people can use, WeChat actually allows users to create their own emoticons and include them into their conversation. And yes, it actually does include animated GIF emoticons...

Group Chat - as I mentioned above, WeChat are not limited to just a "one on one" communication. Users are allowed to create their very own chat groups among their friends and talk. I have to admit the interface looks pretty snazzy too!

Drift Bottle - This one is by far the coolest of them all. What this does is that you can leave "bottled" messages which can be picked up by people within your network!

[Inside the WeChat Party!]

To demonstrate the stability of the system, the organizers urged all of us attending to join in the WeChat group chat that night, which was later projected on the main screen behind the stage area. That way everyone would be able to see what you actually say that night and also, they have organized a few competitions which requires you to be on the group chat and answer the questions from there!

[Some of the energetic performances that was done during that night!]

[the emcee for the night, Rudy, talking to an extremely leggy contestant on stage!]

All in all the night itself went well, despite the weather not really holding up for the rest of us at the start of the event. Quite frankly I actually did enjoy myself out there and am now especially curious to see whether WeChat is going to be a big hit here among the smartphone users of today in Malaysia. Honestly, I am predicting that it will...

The Misconceptions on Male/Female Body Types

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:58:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> To be honest I have been waiting to write about this for the longest time simply because we had this discussion on this topic at the gym a while back and I believe that the input that came out of it was actually damn good. Unfortunately a few unforeseen issues came up which was kinda delaying me to write the article sooner.

In today's society, I believe that we are a generation that has been absolutely obsessed with the way we look and for the very right reason. Each of us would want to make ourselves look presentable, good and attractive. To some extent so many of us would go through so much just or whatever it takes in order to get it.

I am in no exception to this group.

For many years I have done everything I can to improve the way I look and most importantly the way that I present myself in public. As you can see from my previous post (read HERE) I did not start off well in my teenage days and I took the initiative to do something about it which required a lot of hard work.

And I was lucky to have a great support group to do so.

But what scares me today is that many out there are either unaware, uninformed or in some cases misconstrued as to their own targets of how exactly do they want to look.

And I don't blame them.

In fact, here's the biggest surprise. Misconceptions in body types happen to both male and female!

I'll explain.

Many times I have seen both ladies and men not being happy with the way they look and would take extreme measures in getting to their desired body shape.

For those that feel that they are fat would usually skip meals and suffer in hunger for it. For those who are too thin would then start taking supplements or medication without knowing how to use them properly and in the end fork out unnecessary expenses with no desired result whatsoever.

Hence why I came up with this discussion.

Misconceptions on Female Body Types

First lets get the record straight. STARVING BY SKIPPING MEALS IS NOT A WAY TO GET YOUR DESIRED BODY!

Most of the time girls feel this way is because they start comparing themselves to others who look good or from pictures or movies that they saw which got themselves conscious about how they look. Take the girls in the above picture.

[CLICK ON TITLE TO READ MORE!]

I've spoken to them before about this during my trip to the Caribbeans and all the girls said the same thing. They got themselves to look like that not through mere starving themselves to become thin but actually watching their diet extremely carefully and working out to look like that.

Hence why 3 main mistakes is always made when it comes to the ladies on their figure.

Firstly, many would try to put themselves in a wrong category of body type to begin with

One must understand, everyone has a different body type that they belong to and they should be targeting a reasonable target for their body goal.

[Which category do you belong to?]

As you can see above, there are so many categories of body types for women and this is the one that I found most accurate categories for this aspect, instead of your usual "are your fat or thin" definition. Each of these body type has their own attraction and personally, it also gives an extremely realistic target as how you want to look like in the end.

I believe I represent most guys out there, we DO NOT see extremely thin girls attractive in anyway...

so keep yourselves fit. not thin...

Secondly, many seem to think that the less amount of meals you take, the faster you lose weight

Again another mistake that people make. So far I have found from my research has shown that the more you do that, the more you force your body to store fat because it is only natural for it to do so.

Think about it.

People need to realize that the only way for a person to actually reduce their weight is to burn faster than their intake. Which means you need to be doing exercises to burn AND AT THE SAME TIME fueling your body with proper food to replace what your body has lost from the workouts. I will explain more of this in the future.

Finally, which is extremely common. Reduction in weight does not necessarily equal to a slimmer body.

I cannot highlight this more times enough. A lot of people make the mistake that the number you see on your scale represents the body type that you are in at the moment. Which I can guarantee you for a fact is WRONG!

I am not sure why but people tend to forget two things. 1. your body weight consist of the weight of your body fat, muscle weight, bones and internal organ weight together. 2. Body muscle always weight more than fat. Always.

So in the end if your target is to lose weight at all cost, you might be reducing your muscle weight but maintaining your fat in your body the whole time. Which in so many ways is really unhealthy and most importantly, defeats the purpose.

For this, people should remember. Your target should be reducing the fat percentage, not just weight which means that you are actually reducing the right weight target and maintaining "good weight" in your body, which should be the case.

and so, we now come to the guys. Believe me its not any different for us guys.

Misconceptions on Male Body Types

[TehTarikRunners. Three very different body type each]

The best thing about this is that guys make the EXACT same mistake that the girls make on their body types as well. Only difference is that we actually make more misconceptions because of the things we read, hear and talk about this topic. Read on...

Similarly with our female counterpart, we too have different categories that we can put ourselves into (albeit a little more comical than theirs) realistically. For example, I started of being in the "extremely skinny" category and I am gunning for the "athletic" body if we use the cart above (right now I think i am in the "built fat" category). To do so, I need to understand EXACTLY the do's and don't before even attempting to workout.

Most common misconception, supplements/vitamins/gym stuff are not magic formulas to get your desired body shape.

A lot of people think that by taking these supplements they are guaranteed to work wonders to your body and get you where you want.

I do not deny the fact that I take supplements and is essential to my workout BUT I only take these to "supplement" both my workouts and my diet. As I said above, there is no "easy way out" in getting the body you want and the only way to do it is to work hard through your workouts and diet.

By taking these supplement and not doing the work at par to your intake is just going to turn them into really expensive No.1s and 2s....

another misconception, is people fail to realize that your body is built 70% in the kitchen and 30% in the gym.

I have seen so many cases that a lot of people in the gym would work out as much as possible and end the day by gorging the most greasiest and fatty foods you have ever seen, thinking its ok because they did their time in the gym.

Rule of thumb for most guys is always the same. Your output would only depend from your input

As I mentioned above, your target is to reduce the percentage of fat that makes up your body and the only way to do so is to burn faster than what you eat. At anytime that you don't do so, you will still pack is up.

Take this diagram for example

Each of these body types represent THE SAME weight but different body fat percentage and you can see the difference that you would make in your body make. As I mentioned earlier, it depends on the things you eat that makes the difference to whether the amount of workout is worth your time and effort. Not the other way around...

As you can see, one must really know what exactly do they want as their end goal for themselves and at the same time get their targets right, rather than just basing it on a picture of someone else as target. For me, I am a hard supporter of keeping people fit and healthy instead of crazy diets that would starve and harm you in some way.

Always remember one rule.

If you want it you have to work for it. If someone tells you of an easier way to do get your target body, that person is lying to their teeth.

Workout hard and workout smart guys!

Teh Tarik Reviews: G.I. Joe Retaliation

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:25:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> Sometimes when you have a childhood memory of a series or cartoon that you use to watch when you were growing up or a toy series that you used to play with, its kinda hard for one to just simply change the perception that you have made for that series.

Which is the reason why when G.I. Joe decided to make a new sequel to their previous installment, I did have a preconceived expectation of what the movie should look like even before watching the movie. So, many thanks once again to the good people of Nuffnang Malaysia for an opportunity to watch this movie and see whether or not the movie actually reached the hype that I would expect from it!

[CLICK ON TITLE TO READ MORE!]

Following their sequel from the last time, G.I Joe Retaliation follows closely the story continuing from their last adventure against the Cobra Commander with a much bigger threat at stake. Expect this movie to be your usual "slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am" action flick with A LOT OF explosions, guns, car chases and epic fight scenes. Your exact recipe for a classic action movie.

I suppose the biggest elephant in the room would be the inclusion of super large and scary Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the cast, who I assume is having a great year this year with the number of movies that he is in, all of which has somehow a lot of explosions in it. I wonder why...

The plot follows after the Nanomites War, the GI Joe were established as the backbone of the USA's military special forces unit to combat terrorism and has grown from their previous unit. New members are now recruited under the lead of Conrad "Duke" Hauser making the Joes more formidable then ever. However little did they know with the imposter USA President in the helm, their were ordered to be annihilated with extreme prejudice under the command of the now released Cobra Commander. With only a few of them left, they returned to find out who betrayed them with a couple of unlikely alliances and revealing a nuclear plot that threatens the world in existence.

As usual, my review for the movie are as follows!

Would I watch it again? : NO, I was rather disappointed with the development of the story to be honest. Apart from the excellent action sequences that was played, there was no actual continuation from the previous movie and to make matters worse, they pretty much killed off all the characters from the previous one. No idea why...

Movie or DVD worthy? : Just wait for the DVD to be honest. Nothing special to go to the movies for this one.

Plot : Extremely predictable and quite frankly was not developed well enough for my liking. They seemed to rely too much on the star power (read below) of the movie and not on the story line. Being a sequel, there was not much that people would be able to relate to the previous one. Even more, the number of inconsistencies in this sequel to the previous one was rather unbearable.

Star Power : The only saving grace to this movie. It is always awesome to watch The Rock blow stuff up in the movies. Its even more awesome to watch him do it with the original movie bad ass of the 90's Bruce Willis. Also Adrianne Palicki (Lady Jaye) is a joy to watch, and I am not even saying that from the guy's perspective. Rawr...

Teh Tarik Rating : I'll give this one a measly 4 out of 10. Very disappointed to be honest...

[Favorite scene by many male viewers that night. :D]

[I wonder if baldness relates to the level of "badassness" of a person...]

So in a nutshell, it was a slightly disappointing outing to be honest and I was expecting a little bit more from the movie especially being a fan of G.I. Joe for so many year. I believe that many would actually share the same view as mine and to be frank, there were scenes that I thought would perk up the movie but afterwards was never really developed. Still, there is still a lot to enjoy for all the action flick fans out there and for one, I thought the conversations in the movie was hilarious.

Hope you enjoy the review and do share your views on this movie as well!

Teh Tarik Reviews :Django Unchained

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:32:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> It is not usual for me to actually have movie nights as frequent as I would like within a month but this time around, once again thanks to the good people of Nuffnang I was given the opportunity for another movie screening to enjoy. This time around, we were treated with a blood laden, shoot-em-up special movie called Django : Unchained !

Set in the mid western cowboy era of 1859, where the rule of cowboy and white supremacy over black slaves were running rampant in the lands of America, the entire movie was billed as an action pack, rough and shoot up movie which is bound to turn those with a weaker stomach.

Here's a two things you must remember when you are about to watch this movie.

Its a cowboy/slavery movie. And most importantly.

It's a Tarantino movie.

[CLICK ON TITLE TO READ MORE!]

Like any other Quentin Tarantino movies (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds), expect this movie to have A LOT of gore and violence. However amidst all the hard core action, the storyline behind it is something that is quite interesting and coupled with a line up of hilarious scenes and lines which I figured was quite refreshing.

The plot follows two years before the start of the Civil War where the story of Django, a slave separated from his wife and sold to another owner, was rescued by Dr. King Shultz, a German traveling dentist who is actually a bounty hunter by profession. After identifying and killing his bounty with the help of Django, both men decided to team up during the winter and head on to Mississippi to rescue Django's wife, Broomhilda from the charismatic Calvin Candie, owner of the largest cotton farm in the Deep South and largest trade of Mandigo fights, slave fighters to the death.

So as per usual, here are my rating for the movie based on my own opinions!

Would I watch it again? :I actually would, but in a bigger theater. And other Tarantino aficionados!

Movie or DVD worthy? : This movie is made for the movies but unfortunately due to its violent nature, I fear that watching it in the movies here would go through a lot of censorship. Get the DVD if you really want the "Tarantino experience" for this.

Plot : I love the idea of actually incorporating the black history of the Deep South within the storyline, which complements the action packed shoot-em-up storyline of the movie. Many here would not really know the story behind black slavery in the states so this pretty much gives a good idea on how it works.

Star Power : Like any other Tarantino movies, the star power was not lacking at all in this movie. Biggest kudos should be given to Di Caprio who in this movie, seriously demonstrated the reason why he is that damn good in acting. On top of that, the showmanship of the other cast was astounding as well, particularly with Christoph Waltz's portrayal of the German doctor.

Teh Tarik Rating : I'll give this one an 8 out of 10. Fun for us guys, the girls might cringe a little bit in this movie.

All in all, I actually had a lot of fun watching this movie but as I said, be prepared for a Tarantino movie experience when watching this movie because it really doesn't stray far from his usual signature when making his films. Also, I would recommend to listen out for the lines in the movie, especially the KKK on a horse scene which was frigging hilarious.

Oh, and watch for the Australian cowboy. :)

Tabung Wira Lahad Datu : Supporting the Troops

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 04:01:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> I was supposed to write on the Teh Tarik Fitness segment today but something caught my attention that I felt would require a little bit of help from us to spread the word. Personally I am trying to get my blog updated on a regular basis every Tuesday and Friday but looks like we would have a little bit more this week to talk about.

As we all know, the situation in Lahad Datu is improving and our boys there are making sure that they are securing the safety and security of Lahad Datu from the current situation that is happening there. So far, the troops are doing a hell of a job there and they are still fighting to secure and apprehend those that are responsible for all this madness.

[CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ MORE]

However, to obtain such peace we have faced some casualties and damages...

Amidst all the fighting we have lost some brave men who were killed in action while trying to secure the location from these intruders and as we speak, their families are still mourning the loss of these heroes. So far the social media locally have been filled with people with word of encouragement and support for both our fighting heroes over there and the families that have suffered losses these past couple of weeks.

Which is why I believe that there is something we can do from our part.

The proceeds from this donation drive will benefit the families of the fallen and injured soldiers and policemen during the fight and will benefit them in reducing the burden of losing perhaps their sole breadwinner for their family.

It doesn't matter to be honest how much we provide but I honestly believe that as Malaysians, the least we could do is to help out no matter what to make things better for these soldiers and at least for them to be rest assured that we as citizens in Malaysia will not forget them in our thoughts and we can actually do something to help.

Here's how you can help:

Visit the Maybank site for Tabung Wira Lahad Datu which will provide the different ways you can contribute to the fund.

Also for bloggers out there, spread the word and make this known to your readers and public alike.

Personally I feel that most of us would talk and discuss a lot of the incidents that has happened there and now there is a way for us, especially the bloggers out there to really make a contribution to helping this people while they are out there making sure threats like this are dealt with swiftly without us having to be risked of any danger.

Spread the word people and lets really help out. No more talking. Do something about it.

Teh Tarik Reviews : The Great and Powerful Oz

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:22:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> One thing I love when it comes to Disney movies these days is that they have the tendency to recreate old folk lore movies that I use to read when I was kid. Whether it would turn out bad or good is irrelevant but at least there is a chance to actually see whether or not the portrayal of those stories really did satisfy with your imagination back when you were a little kid.

[Here comes the wizard!]

[Click on main title to read more!]

So when I got the chance (many thanks to the good people of Nuffnang) to watch The Great and Powerful Oz I was actually stoked to actually check out the movie. Seeing that the movie basically generates an all-star cast in the movie itself, it would be great to see if the movie itself hits the expectation that I would expect from the movie.

The plot follows Oscar Diggs, a carnival magician who dreams of bigger and greater things in his life than the usual carnival shows and constantly tricking those around him. However, a ride within a storm that resulted from a lover's brawl brought him to the land of Oz, where fantasy, wizards and witches were still made to life in the everyday living of the people of Oz. Confused as the great wizard that was prophesied as the savior of the land from the Wicked Witch, Oscar makes his journey across the land to help the people of Oz without them finding out that he is actually not a wizard they would expect, with a little twist to the story as expected.

[Three witches of Oz]

So as per usual, below are my review for the movie!

Would I watch it again? : I would probably watch the movie again in 3D but only because of the graphics, not the storyline.

Movie or DVD worthy? : I would say in specific Blu-Ray. Reasoning is that the plot itself is not as nice but the graphics and animation they used for it is astounding.

Plot : Although they tried to follow as close as possible with the original storyline of "The Wizard of Oz" and spice things up with the modern day difference, I still felt that the plot was extremely predictable with a some surprises here and there. Most of the time I would go "meh".

Star Power : James Franco with the leading man and three gorgeous actresses in there as well, I thought it was a good cast for the movie. I have to admit that I haven't seen Rachel Weisz is movies for a while already...

Teh Tarik Rating : I'll give a 6 out of 10 for this. Relatively average.

For one I would like to note that I honestly believe that they are going to make a ride out of this movie in Disneyland one day because there were so many times we would be able to see what it would feel like to be in a rollercoaster or waterlog ride like this. Animation and graphics were the strong points in this movie, along side several instances of "wacky puns" by the characters along the way.

I think that this movie caters for certain individuals rather than for the masses. I'm pretty sure that there would be so many that would love fantasy and adventure based movies like this. If you are looking for a complicated plot for a movie I do not recommend this movie but if you get your hats off for graphics and animations then this movie is seriously for you!

Happy watching! :D

Nuffnang's 6th Birthday Partay!

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:45:00 +0000

Apologies on the late scheduled post for the week but it is rather hard to blog on things while travelling around, which also explains the un"watermark"ed photos for this post. Nevertheless, the show must go on and fortunately, this post is a fun one!

[Partay time with the Nuffies!]

[Click on title to read more!]

Last weekend was a huge weekend for most bloggers here in Malaysia, particularly those that has been with the great people of Nuffnang for the longest time because this year they decided to throw in a celebration for their 6th anniversary bash! Joy!

Last year, I was not able to join in the party because of my traveling schedule so this year I was determined to make it for the party and enjoy the fun like last year! So after a lucky break with their contest to win tickets, I scored myself a spot with my partner for life Miss Ave T to go to the party.

But there is a twist...

We were asked to come with matching color clothing, headphones and accessories for the party which was kinda vague to be honest. Then again I do have a reputation of coming up with the craziest things for Nuff parties (as highlighted by Fresh on Twitter) despite me turning the big "three-oh" this year.

So, with the usual dismay of Ave, I came with this! :D

[Captain Obvious and his Goofy hat!]

Since the last time I bought the Goofy hat in Japan I never had the chance to actually use it anywhere so I figured that perhaps this would be a great opportunity to stand out in the crowd and in the same time have a place to put the headphones when I am not using it.

On top of that, I also took the chance to wear my Captain Obvious t-shirt (which was yellow!) and basically going around annoying the crap out of people by pointing out the obvious (just doing my job people...).

[Hosts were Kevin and Isabelle from TraxxFM!]

As we came into Lust that night for the party relatively early, we took the opportunity to grab a few drinks and talked to bloggers which I have to admit that I haven't seen for a while for now. The A-listers of blogging were all there and it was also great to see new faces in the Nuffnang blogging community also attending the event itself.

We grabbed our goodie bags (which was awesomely full btw) and proceeded to get ourselves some food and drinks while the event started!

[Party confetti at the Party!]

[photo courtesy of Caroline!]

Despite my attempts, it was unfortunate that my camera decided to give me problems half way through the night which explains the lack of pictures here. That night, it was more of a catch up session with so many awesome people for me and Ave. We basically spent the entire night taking pictures with new people and talking about everything under the sun, to the point we even missed the main performance that night!

[Ave and Audrey. Loving the bun hair!]

[Catching up with the awesome Ernest! Even had the chance to meet two of the bros!]

[Met the awesome Crystal who was a huge fun to talk to!]

So as the night waned by, we all had our fun with great music being played by the DJ (some of which was actually chosen by us prior to the party!), great food and games which came with awesome prizes as well. Unfortunately we had to leave the place early because of some other engagement we had later that night but with the amount of things that was talked with that night, I seriously had so much fun just catching up with so many people that night.

In the end, it was another great event night with the great people in Nuffnang. After 6 years, its amazing that they have managed to maintain the level of awesomeness that we have experienced as bloggers. If anything, this would only prove that the best are yet to come from them.

Happy 6th Birthday Stickman. Here's looking out for more great years ahead!

Teh Tarik Fitness : My Fitness Segment!

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:10:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/>

To be honest with you, I have been wanting to do this for the longest time...

I believe that a lot of people out there are not too happy with the way they look and their fitness level today and especially with recently it has been announced that Malaysia is now the fattest country in South East Asia, its a little wonder that a lot now are really trying to do something about it to improve themselves health wise.

My story was however slightly different.

I hated the way that I looked in the past. I was severely underweight, I had no strength at all and had close to zero confidence to people, especially with the fairer sex. I was sick all the time and people used to think that I wasn't eating enough in my diet. The thing is I ate A LOT but i still looked as how I did.

So I knew I had to do something about it and I was sick and tired of being taunted around because of the way I look. In the same time, I knew I could be better, health and appearance wise and I needed to know how to do it.

But we all have one problem when it comes to this...

[click on title to read more]

[Fitness magazines. Do they really help?]

We always try to get as much information by either going online and reading up fitness magazines but despite them giving excellent advice on workout tips and diets, they don't really cater for us. The average Malaysian. We might be able to catch what they are trying to say but most of the time, we would not be able to relate to what they are referring to just because that the average American might not suit the body and diet of an average Malaysian.

As I scour around for more information, two of my really good friends also had the same problem, and they too wanted to make a change on how they actually look.

First up, we have Ash aka the Gym Monkey

Ash had a completely different problem than mine, at about 152cm tall, he was, at this point, weighing at a staggering 96kg at average and was too comfortable with the way he looked. At one point, he decided enough was enough and it was a time of change. The last thing he wanted to be was a part of a statistic that he was not going to be proud of.

and then we have Virgil, our female counterpart.

For Virgil it was a classic case of "What if"s. Being an athletic person she kinda let herself go in the last couple of years and unfortunately she paid the price for it. Flabby, constantly tired and really did not like how she has turned out to be, it came to the point that she needed to get things to change quickly. Worse still, she is due to get married this year and she now has one year to do it.

So there we go, three people who are determined as hell to make a change but unfortunately we needed direction on how to do it.

So we took action. Serious action.

Joined a gym and for the last one year, we researched, experimented and worked like a mad horse to get results. To which we look something like this...

[What we look like today!]

So far, we have accumulated a lot of information and workout routines over the years and pretty much experimented them on ourselves routinely. Result wise, I would say that it is still a work in progress but we're quite happy with the progression so far.

in that note, I would like to announce a new segment in this blog which is...
Teh Tarik Fitness segment! :D

In here, I would be writing and sharing everything that has got to do with what we have found for fitness, fitting for both male and female and all body sizes. What I plan to include in this segment from now on is things like:

WORKOUT ROUTINES: where I would love to share and hear out workouts that I believe would work for us, especially here in Malaysia.

PROGRESSION UPDATES: taking the opportunity to check out progressions of myself and others in the blogosphere.

DIET DISCUSSIONS: I believe that this is one of the most difficult thing for us in Malaysia to pin down so I would want to compile information here that people can use to refer to when it comes to diet.

MOTIVATION TALK: Share what drives you to work out. Its for all of us.

RESEARCH: Most of the times, I am online doing research on things to better our routines everyday and sometimes, I discuss with the people in the gym to get more information. I would love to take it a step further by including the online community into my research as well!

CONTESTS!: Yup, I will be including my very own contests in here as well! Keep your eyes peeled.

[With our coach/trainer Arvind!]

For the three of us, we have our own targets by the end of the year.

By the end of this year, we would want to reach our desirable body weight and body fat percentage (which is something I will discuss later on) and I believe it would be great to share with the rest of you guys there as well!

Each of us have our own specialty when it comes to workouts.

[Ash - From 96kgs to 74kgs within one year!]

Ash has taken a lot of pride in his ability in managing his weight drop to a level that is astounding for many so he would be sharing a lot on how he did it the right way. On top of that, he also takes pride in his lower body strength which is where most of the contributions will come from!

On top of that, he has his own fitness blog at The Gym Monkey which he will put in his inputs as well!

[Ash hitting his proud moment - Leg Press at 550kg. Yup. 550kg]

As for mine is of course the complete opposite.

[Managed to bulk up from 49kg to 82kg so far]

I know there are so many out there that faced the same problem as I did, being extremely thin and not knowing how to bulk. So far the progress has been great in the last couple of years but it still takes a lot more to reach my goal.

I take a lot of pride on upper body workouts and High Intensity Trainings (HITs) which is something that I will be sharing more here.

and of course we would also include tips for the ladies!

Coming up to her wedding, Virgil has taken A LOT of steps to get her to the bodyshape she wanted to prepare for her big day so there has been a lot that we have compiled with her that I think would be great to share with the female readers!

On top of that, I will include other tips from other fitness bloggers that I usually read (particularly like Fay's and Linora's blog) in this compilation just to get a better view on things when it comes to our workouts.

So there you have it folks, I'll be looking forward to posting more write up under this segment and I would love to get more support on this so that we would be able to exchange ideas in the future. For times that I forgot why I do this, I always remember one thing:

Hell yeah.

Nuffnang 6th Birthday Bash : My Very Own Playlist

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:42:00 +0000

Last year, I had to miss out on the fun that they had during Nuffnang's 5th Birthday celebration because I had to travel to Europe for work. Was unfortunate because from the blog posts that people were posting, it sure looked like one hell of a party they had.

This year, I am determined as hell to be at their birthday celebration!

[Happy Birthday Stickman!]

click on the title to read more!

And for this time around, the good people in Nuffnang have already added a twist to the party, which is that we as the guest can actually decide what the music that will be playing on that night! Which is absolutely great news because not only would the party be blazing songs that would be ABSOLUTELY different that the ones that we are accustomed to, I would actually get to party to songs that haven't been played for the longest time in a party!

let me explain...

It is a known fact that I am a little "old school" with my taste of music especially with the songs that I party to. Reasoning behind it is that I would love to be in a party where the music played is something that you actually need to know how to dance to and also, have music that you can actually dance with someone without smacking the person in the face by accident.

It is unfortunate that the music you have today don't actually have that kind of "mojo" anymore. Mostly are just sounds that can only be accommodated with dance moves that mimic either someone trying to stomp a fire out or has a bee in his shirt and is trying to get it out.

Hence to revisit the best of the old school, I give you...

TehTarikDrinker's Ol' Skool Mix!

(click on the link to check out my suggested playlist!)

Some of the best songs in the past that I used to jam to in clubs which I would LOVE to see played during the party and see if there are those that would be able to attempt to dance to these in public.

[What to expect from my songlist mix! :D]

I know I've made myself look SUPER old putting this playlist up as my selection but hey, you know what they always say?

U guys catch my drift... :)

I'm so looking forward for the birthday bash! I seriously do hope I get invites for this!

Unboxing Playstation 4

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:24:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> As we speak, the entire buzz around the tech town is the latest release of the new Playstation 4 that was announced just a couple hours ago and I for one am psyched! Just to clarify that I am not exactly a console junkie but with the wedding and new place coming into the picture, I have been wanting to include the PS4 into the picture for the longest time.

[Here we go guys...]

Honestly I was streaming the launch earlier this morning so I do have quite a lot to tell on this one...

So right now, there is so many write up and questions being posted online which is rather confusing, especially for us here in Malaysia. What I am attempting to do is to compile EVERYTHING here in this post, and keep updating every information I can get into this post each day, according to the category that I have listed below, so keep an eye on this post!

Ready? Here we go!

Specs

So far what we know, the Playstation 4 is the "uber console" for gaming as we know it. Reports have shown an x86 processor, an 8-core combined CPU/GPU, and 8 GB of unified GDDR5 memory (versus the PS3's 512 megabytes).

In geeks terms, this console is faster, bigger and graphics wise will basically blow your brains out of the Kasbah.

[Spec highlights for PS4]

For us mere mortals, the Playstation 4 is a turbo charged console that is expected to have much faster responses for game time as well as another additional feature which I will mention below. One of the major improvements that Sony has made is the download/loading time for gameplay as well as processing for the console.

With this kind of spec, the possiblity is endless. Perhaps HD gaming is on the way?

Controller

One of the biggest reveal for this launching was the controller. Even before, there has been leaks as to how this thing is going to work and now we have it.

A quick look at the controller, one would be able to see that there has not been much changes from the design of the previous controller, except for a few key things. The controller will now share a central touch pad that would interact with the player, and rumor has it that it is also an integrated screen for gameplay (inventory for characters now appear on gamepad rather than the screen).

Two new features that has been included with the console are the motion tracking device that is available on the controller. Similar to the PS Glowstick they had before but now all included within one controller.

Another is the "share feature" which is where players are able to share their gameplay instantly to either social network platforms or even other players in the network. This would mean that a scenario, where you get stuck in a section of a game, you can easily share that to your Playstation network and either discuss with people or even let people play for you while you watch!

One really impressive feature that they have included is the instant "on/off" feature for the console.

Because of their processing unit, players can turn off and turn on back to where they left off the game in mere seconds, without having to wait for the load up time anymore. A secondary processing unit will work on the downloading process which means that players would be able to continue playing other games while waiting for another to finish downloading. More on this later....

Console

This is where it gets a little annoying. Throughout the entire reveal, there were no indications AT ALL as how this thing is going to look like and believe me when you are up at 3 in the morning to watch the unveiling, it really is that annoying.

But so far we have seen a few concept suggestions that people have posted up and I think it can be around that kind of design..

[The best and the most realistic one I can find out there]

I'm going to leave this part to rest for a while and update when I find more!

Games

Because of their uber specs on hardware, this would actually give room to SO MUCH improvements as to how we would get from game titles in the future. Just like their PC counterpart, the design, gameplay, experience and overall function of the games will be improved dramatically.

[Watch Dogs on PS4]

[Killzone on PS4]

I think the theme here with all the game developers is "next generation gaming experience". So far Ubisoft, Square Enix, Bondi (the people who made LA Noire), Blizzard, Bungie and Activision have entered into a specific partnership to develop games that will fully utilize the capability of Playstation 4 to its fullest.

One of the biggest letdown for the console is that it would not be able to play the old Playstation 3 within its console anymore. However, they will incorporate their latest Playstation Cloud into the mix

Playstation Cloud will not only be a hub for your network but also a place where you can download your games into the console WHILE playing your current game. As mentioned above, this would be the portal where your friends would be able to "spectate" your game play and in the same time, a place where you could download your games, including the older titles from Playstation 3.

From your network as well, players will be given the opportunity to share your games with people and not just limited to console players. The idea is to even get those to play with you on handheld consoles, like the Playstation Vita. Interesting...

Social Networking

Not exactly something new from the Playstation world but the newest one would fully push the limits of its inclusion of social network on your gaming.

[Interface of your Playstation 4]

Playstation 4 looks to fully integrate itself with almost all major social network platforms which gives you the opportunity to share your games through Facebook, Twitter, etc. and in the same time gives better connectivity for your gaming experience.

On top of that, streaming functions are now made available on the Playstation which means that watching TV or even downloading your favorite episodes on the console is now possible, on top of using the platform as a home entertainment unit just like its predecessor.

Release Date and Price

Another annoying part of the launching is that they were EXTREMELY vague for this information. However, my research may have indicated that the release date for the Playstation 4 could be within November 2013. Pricing wise we would be seeing the units to be shipped out to between USD429 to USD529 depending on which unit you choose.

If we were to base on the trend that Sony would usually do with their console, I would expect the release date for Playstation 4 in Malaysia to be somewhere around March 2014 (assuming this is for the NTSC-J version). Pricing wise I believe it should be almost similar to how much they were charging for the Playstation 3, ranging between RM 1500 to RM1900 per unit.

So in a nutshell, I am excited to see this coming into our shores soon. Of course there are still more stories to tell about this launching so I will keep the updates as frequent as possible for any new news in regards of the unit so keep your eyes peeled for any new updates here!

I can't wait! :D

TeratakArmo@Jejai : Gone Too Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:36:00 +0000

After a long absence from blogging, this was not the re-start that I was expecting to write in this blog. I was told of a extremely sad news earlier today, of a news that I believe would effect many people especially within the Malaysian Nuffnang community...

Earlier yesterday, avid blogger and Nuffnang hard supporter extraordinaire passed away peacefully due to sickness...

Jai Ramli @ Teratakarmo

photo courtesy of shahrulhairy.com

Never a timid person in life, I remembered the first time I met Jai was when I first broke out in the blogging scene. I was still new at that time and Jai was part of a group of popular Malay bloggers and everyone knew who he was. He came around and said hello and from there on we continued to exchange stories and similarities.

I remembered I was so jittery that time and I thank god there was at least someone to say hello to and talk, especially as a newbie in events like this.

Over the next couple of years, I remembered that at almost every Nuffnang event I would attend, he was there to say hello and was kinda awesome because you would know there will always be a friendly face and a person to chat with in these events as long as Jai was around.

and boy he was not shy to come out dressed as well!

During our outing in the DIGI Blackberry event

During the DIGI Live Music event

Together at the Nuffnang Polo test drive!

Dressed to kill at the Astro Hollywood night! :D

our last event together at the Astro On-the-GO event.

The thing is, I honestly believe that it was not just me that had the privilege to know him but there was so many people among the Nuffnang community that got the same opportunity to hang out with the man himself and had a great time as well. One thing is for sure, with his passing , there will be a lot that would remember him nothing less than a great person to be with, especially during Nuffnang events.

I'd remember Jai as a great friend in the blogsphere, always been a supporter of my blog since day one (even with my entries in competitions, he was one of the first to show support) and never a dull person to be around with.

My absolute condolences to all his family members that he has left behind, for he is now in His grace. I pray that he would forever be placed with those that are cherished by Him.

Al-Fatihah.

Please do share your stories on Jejai here.

World's Most Epic Bitch Slap

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:23:00 +0000

I am aware that I have been MIA for quite while from the blog, with a perfectly good excuse. After 10 long years of service, some parts of my computer finally gave way and was effected very badly from a virus attack which kinda wiped out my entire administration drive on my computer and in the same time, burnt out my main internal hard drive completely.

This was not much of a problem for me, following expert advise from Stormy Zaaba to back up everything I have to an external way before kinda saved me the hassle of trying to dig data out of my previous hard drive. So after installing a 1TB hard drive and installing the new Windows 8 platform (which I find super cool), I am still in the midst of installing all the necessary programs I need to work my daily routines including Photoshop, Dreamweaver and such. So please do bear with me with the updates on this blog....

In the mean time I found this...

I am not exactly a fan of Bollywood movies but a friend of mine, Evan, told me about this one scene in the movie Singham that everyone he knew couldn't stop watching. He gave me the clip and seriously I haven't stop laughing since.

It's this...

If this was not the most epic "police-bad-guy" chase scene that you have ever scene, then you have no taste in movies what so ever.

Forget the bad ass police car chase scene with guns and explosions.

Forget the long chase through neighborhood houses and backyard jumpings .

Forget even the detailed PIT maneuver you see in police chase.

This one just comes running next to you. Looks you in the eye. Don't even bother stopping you with handcuffs or shouting the Miranda Rights at you.

All it takes its the world's most EPIC bitch slap you have ever seen.

Booyah.

End of an Era for Morning Radio DJ Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:41:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> I know its something weird to talk about when it comes to radio DJ but seeing the conversations on Twitter, I kinda feel the need to actually address this issue properly. In the last couple of years, my routine while going to work has always been the same. Get my lazy bum out of bed, get ready, breakfast and endure the 45 mins to 1 hour traffic hell drive to work. But all of those mornings of going through all that seem to be an ease because of one good reason..

[The two radio stations that I listen to religiously every morning]

Every morning, I will without a doubt tune in to these two radio stations EVERY SINGLE MORNING to catch the morning show. (how I can listen to BOTH at the same time is a complicated system that I work out every morning with the Phantom, Twitter and the phone....)

After all these years, I still believe that these two stations created a great deal of an impact to most Malaysian when it comes to their morning shows and I believe this much is true for myself as well. I will be brutally honest that I do not listen to them for the music, because for that I could easily get from streaming channels online on Youtube, but rather for their different yet relatable personalities that they showcase on air.

[The original #PagiRockCrew]

When I started listening to Fly.FM, the original Pagi Rock Crew consisted of Premo, Nadia and Hafiz which their entire show covered issues from everyday life issues all the way until silly, idiotic geeky jokes and stories either about themselves or the general public. Even when the trio became a duo, they never did stop with their antics and they really did go crazy on their ideas. Read on...

I think its because of these things that people really did enjoy their show is because they could relate back to the things they were talking about at all times, including myself!

One thing that made them different was their involvement in Twitter for their shows. Most shows would usually get their listeners to call them but with Twitter, they were addressing almost everyone including those that were shy to go live on air.

Each morning I was religiously Twitter these people while being stuck in the traffic, laughing my head off every time on my own each time. There was even a time where I challenged the boys on air to do the Office Dares which they actually responded to! Good times...

and then you have these two...

[Hitz.fm's very own JJ and Ean]

I have been listening to Hitz for a VERY LONG time, in fact I still remember me and brothers were listening to them back in the days of 1997. Over the years, their morning crews changed from one duo to another but I would believe that these two were the ones that people could really approach simply because of the their personality on air and even in real life.

[TehTarikRunners with the boys at the Borneo Marathon 2012]

So far I had the pleasure to meet these two in numerous occasions and each time (I really mean each time) there was always a sense of friendliness between them and there was never a problem for either myself or the rest of Team Teh Tarik to come around and approach them either for a chat or a picture. Straight guys these two are...

So the question for this blog post, what happens when they no longer are the duo we listen to everyday on the radio station?

As it turns out starting this year, the duo for both the stations have been changed and are no longer talking in the airwaves as to how most of us would listen. So far I am uncertain on why the change was made by the management but reading from the news feed on Twitter, a lot of us were also wondering what happened and whether the duos will ever come back.

Either ways, I believe this would be the end of the era for both great morning show DJs. I believe that there will be a lot of listeners that would find it rather difficult to change our preference and tune in to the new group that is taking over. This would also include myself as well...

So I for one would like to wish all the best, if they are reading this of course, to the new duos for both Hitz.FM and Fly.FM with the new morning show.

And also thanks very much to the duo, The Morning Crew and the Pagi Rock Crew for an awesome time in the mornings. U guys were awesome.

Top 10 Movies I Look Forward to Watch in 2013!

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:36:00 +0000

So, now that we are done with the whole 2012 hype, most of us movie buffs are looking forward to what are we looking to expect to come out this year after quite an epic year of movies in 2012. However with all the upcoming movies coming out, surely for all of us would have their own list of movies that they are really waiting to come out this year and would be waiting and talking to their friends about it.

[2013 will be a badass year for movies!]

So with that thought in mind, of course you will be expecting to see a list here in tehtarikmemoirs of the movies that I have been screaming and jumping for their release since their trailer came out. To make this really interesting for my side, I have chose my 10 most anticipated movies (not in any order) for 2013 that I am seriously looking forward to, with links to their trailer as well as why I am looking forward to this.

As I said guys, click on the names of the movie to check out the trailer. I can't put all in here coz it would jam the website. :P

First up we have Pain and Gain, which is a movie that is based on a true story of two gym freaks who are tired of the everyday life and attempted to create a kidnap and rob ring which goes horribly wrong....

Why would I wanna watch it?: Fact of the matter is, most gym dudes would want to watch this just so that we would be able to see how you poke fun on gym monkeys in town. From the trailer, the fact that Mark Wahlberg got himself seriously buffed for this movie to go head to head with the Great One himself, The Rock shows serious awesome potential of this movie to be great. May not be for everyone but I am actually looking forward to this... :D

Expected release: April

This might be by far the stupidest series one would see in the movie but damn it really caught up with a following!The Hangover: Part 3 is the final conclusion of the "Wolfpack" adventure and it is rumored to be the finale fitting for this series!

Why would I want to watch it?: Since that I have been following the first two movies of this series, I suppose it is only fitting that I conclude the entire adventure with an epic boom! The last one was a bit of a disappointment but right now I am hoping it would be a good one...

And yes, this time they are going to Amsterdam, which I have been before! :D

Expected Release: May

Once again, another epic Sci-Fi movie is out and this time, we combo both Will Smith and Jayden Smith in one movie! After Earth tells a story where Earth is no longer an inhabitable planet and when a father and son accidentally crash landed on the planet, they need to do what it takes to survive until help comes.

Why I want to watch this movie?: Everyone was expecting sooner or later for both the Smith family to make another movie together and this is going to make it even more epic. From the trailer this would seriously not spare any expense on CGI to make this movie and we also get to see why exactly did humans left Earth in the first place. Epic.

Expected Release: June

Next up, I would not vouche this to be my list without a British comedy in it. The World's End is a simple story of a bunch of dudes who are trying to recreate a pub crawl they did from back in their younger days, only to find out that something even bigger is about to happen.

Why Would I Want to Watch This Movie?: Fact of the matter is, so far all of the movie involving both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have never been a disappointment for me so I would imagine this would be good as well. Bring on the catastrophe then...

Expected Release: October

Yet another "abandoned Earth" movie in 2013 but somehow everyone has been talking about this movie. Oblivion is a Tom Cruise Sci-Fi movie that finds him in Earth, supposedly coming to fix something down there but finding something that completely changes his perception of the wars between humans and aliens.

Why Would I Want to Watch this Movie?: Give me an action adventure movie involving aliens and cool guns and I am in. Plus the whole mystery in finding the truth behind movies always fascinated me. Check out the trailer and you will find why everyone is talking about this movie to be one of the blockbuster of the year...

Expected Release: April

If there is one person out there that hated Monsters Inc. then I would say you either lost your inner child or didn't have a childhood at all. It has been so many years since the last movie came out but Monster University is expected to be a blast!

Why Would I Want to Watch this Movie?: I love prequels to a movie because of two things. 1) is that you would be able to get an explanation on the humble beginning of the character and 2) you can always relate the things you see in the movie from the previous, hence the excited shrills during a movie!

Expected Release: June

I admit that I do have a preference when it comes to sci-fi movies, which means no idiot would want to watch how The Enterprise got its fame. Star Trek: Into the Darkness continues the prequel of which on how the fleet would have to face one of the most famous villains in the franchise.

Why Would I want to Watch this Movie?: Told you guys, I'm a sci-fi geek and I would love to see how the earlier saga between Spock and Captain Kirk started which basically made the franchise famous as it is today.

Expected Release: May

This is one is seriously something I really look forward to. Pacific Rim is basically a robot show. The difference is in the storyline itself. With large scale aliens attacking Earth from beneath the sea, humanity then created large scale humanoid robots to counter attack these savages!

Why I Want to Watch this Movie?: Back in the days, we use to play this game called Mech Warrior and I was addicted to it. This movie is as close as you can get to show the same idea and concept behind the robots and seriously this is a bad ass movie to begin with. 100 foot alien monsters being punched in the face by a giant, rocket fueled, robot punch. Lets get it on.

Expected Release: July

Need I say more about this film? Man of Steel created a hype on its own after teasers started to come out early last year and everyone was excited for it. After the big botched attempt of recreating Superman the last time, a lot of people were hoping we would finally be able to make the legend some justice in the movies.

Why I Want to Watch this Movie?: Superman was everyone's hero, regardless of what age you are in he will always be the hero. So when the direction of his portrayal was going to be slightly darker than its previous movies, I got so interested on finding out how it was going to be done for this time around. Making the Man of Steel human. Interesting....

Expected Release: June

and of course...

I've wrote about how Iron Man 3 made a huge fuss by coming up with a trailer to its movie trailer and everyone went completely bananas over it. People started to come up with their own theories in the direction of this one is going to take but one thing for sure, from its trailer we can seriously imagine that this is going to be the biggest movie of the year.

So there you have it folks, my 10 movies that I am seriously looking forward to in 2013 which is going to be a great one for movie buffs around.

Whats your top 10 list? Share on the comment below!

also, do check out all the movies that are confirmed to be out next year

HERE

India's Gang Rape Case: An Uproar that Shook the Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 05:08:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> Quite honestly I had to wait for a long time before writing this post, on the sole basis that I wanted to collect as much information as I can before coming up with my own conclusion with what has happened in this particular case.

For those of you guys who have not heard about this case, there has been a lot of versions that has been going around with what exactly happen but the similarity within the story is this. Two young students, an Indian couple, was coming back from watching a movie Life of Pi in the bustling city of Delhi. Since it was already nightfall, they decided to take a bus which they thought was going to take them back home. When they got inside the bus, 5 men, which included the bus driver, started to hurl verbal abuses to the couple. Afterwards, the men stopped the bus, locked the tinted bus from the inside and started to beat both the couple up with metal bars especially the male victim. 3 of the men then dragged the female victim to the driver's cabin and proceeded to take turns to rape the girl while at the same time beating her viciously. After about an hour of the repeated ordeal, the couple where then thrown out of the moving bus and was left there, badly hurt from their injuries and was later found by the police and brought to the hospital.

[The alleged bus where the crime was committed]

This is where it got a little skewed in the story. They claim that they were left there for 30 minutes while being ignored by people walking by and it took the police a considerable amount of time for them to react because they spent the time arguing whose responsibility should the victim fall under. The authorities mentioned that they were at the scene of the crime 4 minutes after the alleged crime was committed, and the pair arrived at the hospital 24 minutes later.

As the story goes, the female victim did not survive her injuries and died while receiving treatment in a hospital in Singapore.

Regardless of which version of the story is true, the one thing for sure is that this act of cruel violence sparked a major outrage in the city, with city wide demonstrations done everywhere in Delhi and some even clashing with the police, demanding for justice to be serve and reforms be made on the laws governing women rights in one of the most highest crime rate against women cities in the world.

With rampant problems like this happening around the world, I believe that this issue is something that we are also facing here back home. So many of cases that we have heard of females being sexually assaulted and attacked and more likely than not, similar responses have always been seen surfacing out of these cases.

Its partially the woman's fault for getting herself into that situation.

[how long more should we tolerate with these crimes?]

I for one am appalled that some would even think of blaming the victim in a situation like this, as if they would try to justify an absolutely heinous crime like rape by putting some part of the blame to the woman just because you think you can.

If there is anything that this case would show to us, is that there is an absolute need to severely punish those that commit such crimes, either as a deterrent to those out there that would even think of doing the same thing or at least taking this people out from living in our society once and for all. Violence like this should never be tolerated and should be dealt with the utmost importance within any society.

Today, the father of the victim of the Indian Gang Rape case has revealed who the daughter is, as to show the woman that tried to fight her way through the ordeal and perished in the hands of brutal sex criminals.

Rest in Peace Jyoti Singh Pandey. May justice be served for your ordeal.

TehTarikDrinker says Adieu to 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:04:00 +0000

Honestly it seems like only yesterday that I remembered writing the same titled blog post last year and here we are, the start of the new year. I know it sounds cliche like anything but then again, one can't help feel a little nostalgic when it comes to reminiscing times in the past.

[Loving this new year poster!]

And so like the most of us, 2012 has been quite an eventful year for me and the rest of my group, coming from minute changes to the ones that are just downright life changing. Nevertheless, it was a year to remember to be honest with you.

Although I have to admit that I was struggling to figure out how exactly do I do this post, I decided to take a page inspired by Kenny Sia and mention a few highlights on what I have been up to in the last year.

1. Achieving (well... almost) my running target for 2012

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I came in 2012 with a target set between me and the rest of the Teh Tarik Runner of what we wanted to achieve. So far, I have completed 11 runs in total for 2012 which I never thought was a feat that I could achieve so this is a huge one for me. On top of that, I got a taste of running in events outside of Malaysia and it was one of the best experiences in my life.

2. Got serious at work and slowed down on blogging

With a lot of things in mind I think my own mentality kinda changed when it comes to work.

Despite everything, I had to buckle down a little bit more than before when it comes to work to make sure that I created the necessary impact that I wanted in order to move forward and 2012 was a year I spent learning how to do so. So far I can see myself turning into a workaholic as the day goes by but I think its something that I needed to.

So is life I guess...

Unfortunately with that in mind, blogging had to slow down a little bit, as the number of posts I recorded this year decreased from 119 posts to 103 posts for 2012. Also on that, a lot of the segments on this blog had to be halted because of the same reason, in which I truly regret... A very disappointing number to be honest....

3. Revamped the site altogether!

My previous layout for this site was the first layout I used when I started this blog and it stayed there for the longest time. I am not sure why but within the time period of 2009 to 2012 I was not really that comfortable in changing the layout for various reasons. Call it because I want to be comfortable with the design, it was also turning into a designated image of the blog, whatever the reason I just didn't want to change.

However after a while, I do get similar comments on how a change is needed with the look of the website.

It was too dark, too hard to read and sometimes it even takes ages to load up for some people.

So I took it upon myself to buckle down and took the site back to the drawing board. I made some tweaks on the design a bit, rather than being limited to the frames that it had in the past as well as picking up some tips from favorite tech guide websites like hongkiat.com, I ended up coming up with this.

Its a leap of faith but it has to be done. :D

4. Attended my first Chinese wedding

I know that despite the multicultural people I have in my close circle that this is really a surprising revelation, I seriously have never attended one before this. Of course I was not only fortunate enough to attend a Chinese wedding this year, it was a wedding that everyone was talking about. :D

and it was one hell of a wedding! :D

5. Traveled even more places this year compared to last year!

Last year was an amazing year for me and traveling and at one point I figured that I would not have the same opportunity as I would this year.

boy was I wrong...

Thankfully I was fortunate enough to even go MORE places this year to visit countries that I have never even been before. Had the opportunity to travel to Korea for work and a short holiday there, made my run in Gold Coast Australia and of course most importantly my amazing trip to America and Belize for the Anarchy Island trip.

Looking back at what I planned to do as my new year's resolution for 2012, I am a little scared to report in my score for the year but of course I would have to face my own resolutions for the year so here goes....

Checklist from 2012!

1. Get Mandarin done!

- unfortunately still unable to even speak the lick of Mandarin but gosh darn it I will continue to try!

2. Break 500 visitors to blog per day!

- just under to be honest... so close....

3. Get promoted within the year

- got one done! :D

4. Travel to 5 different locations within this year

- as mentioned above, thankfully I have exceeded this as well! :D

5. Get gym target done (12% - 10%)

- despite the increased frequency of my gym visits, I have yet to hit that percentage but I am getting close....

6. Run at least a half marathon overseas!

- done this in Gold Coast! :D

7. Learn how to skip rope (yup I admit it....)

- also another successful notch on my list! :D

8. Be more involved with Nuffnang and GPlusMY

- I have to admit that it has been quite an eventful year with Nuffnang this year but I would want to get even more involvement with their activities and especially their competitions. Need more ideas...

9. Take relationship to next level?

check and check. :D

video on how I did it coming out soon....

So with 2013 already on the way, there are a few things that I would want to add in the list, on top of those that I have yet to complete from 2012. For one, there are a lot of things significant for this year, especially those close to me.

For one thing, this is the year I turn the big three-oh...

[damn straight]

In this year, there would of course be a lot of other things that I want to achieve and as I told most people around me, I believe that 2013 would be the year of achieving quality over quantity when it comes to my goals. Therefore, what I hope to achieve for 2013 are:

1. Run my first full marathon. Like finally.

2. Write more posts this year than the previous year.

3. Create something new with the blog.

4. Travel to a new place I have never been before.

5. Level up at my workplace.

6. Own my own pad (since I already have my own car).

and most importantly....

7. Be a great husband. :)

On that note, on behalf of myself and the rest of Team Teh Tarik, I would like to wish you guys and gals out there a great year ahead and may all your goals that you have set for this year will be achieved with flying colors. As for those who have been supporting this blog all the way through 2012, honestly I thank you so very much for the humbling support and I do hope you would enjoy the new things that are coming into the blog!

HAVE A GREAT YEAR IN 2013 GUYS!

My Running Achievements in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 10:31:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/> So as we approach the end of 2012, I believe a lot of people would want to tell on what they have achieved this year and how the year has been for them. Same goes for me here in tehtarikmemoirs.com but additionally, I would want to first conclude on a little project that I undertook this year.

As many would know, I started to pick up an interesting hobby this year which was running. To some may not seem much but for me it was a hurdle that I wanted to overcome in the longest time. I picked up this interest back in 2011, which was a run organised by the company that I work for and since then I didn't stop. Funny enough, one of my best friends, GymMonkey aka Ash, was also hooked into the idea as well.

So at the end of 2011, we both set down and realized this is something that we can cross off in our list. As we grew older a lot of people say that we were way out of our league on this but we were dead set to prove them wrong. We decided to participate 12 different running events within the year and call it

"Running 12 for 2012"!

Catchy huh? :D

1 entire calendar year later, this is what I can show

[My medal collection for 2012!]

My complete collection of all the finishing pictures for the year!

The runs that I participated this year are:

Mizuno Wave Run, Brooks Half Marathon (10km), Energizer Night Race (15.5km), Borneo International Marathon (10km), PJ Dawn (12km), Standard Chartered KL Marathon (10km), Gold Coast Airport Marathon (21km), Adidas King of the Road (16.8km), Taiping International Marathon (21km), Putrajaya Night Marathon (21km) and Penang Bridge International Marathon (21km).

[The GymMonkey posing with his haul for the year!]

As you can see, I unfortunately only managed to do 11 runs this year because the last one, which was suppose to be my maiden 42km full marathon in Singapore had to step aside because I was flying to the Caribbean on the same day of the event. Haih...

However, I do believe that it was a spectacular year for running and to be honest, I still couldn't believe that I actually completed the number of runs that I did considering a year ago I was the last person you would think to do cardio work outs.

Some key highlights for the running year are:

Two best moments that I could still remember during my runs was running next to our very own Miss Universe, Kimberly Leggett during the Borneo International Marathon and two 6-ish year olds handing me some chocolates halfway while I was running the Gold Coast Airport Marathon.
My biggest regret was to still not be able to call myself a marathon runner this year.
Best running event overall to me was the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. I had nothing to complain about the run at all!
Best running event locally would be the Energizer Night Race, which incidently was the last run they were going to organize. Everything during that run was fantastic and the view of the F1 track circuit at night was just spectacular.
Worse running event of them all was the misery I had to go through in the Taiping International Marathon. If ever they would organize this again, avoid it at all cost.
My best time for 10km was done in Borneo (1:04) while my best time for 21km was done in Gold Coast (2:28)
Total distance covered for 2012 is a whopping 168.3 kilometers! :D
First time running using power gels. Very weird...

Apart from that, this year also mark my return to two main running events in Malaysia. Last year I ran 10km for the Putrajaya Night Marathon and the Penang Bridge Marathon and this year, I decided to return for an upgrade!

Two medals for the BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon

And two more from the Penang Bridge Marathon.

So, what am I looking out for my running calendar for 2013? I would have to admit that because of a lot of things, I would not be running as much as I would this year but I am gunning for some major events locally and outside of Malaysia. In a way, I am going for "quality rather than quantity" for this year. More on this soon.

So that concludes my running calendar for 2012. Although I barely missed my 12 runs mark this year, I am still proud of what I achieved this year. Many thanks to everyone that was supportive of me this year, particularly the rest of Teh Tarik Runners as well as Miss Ave T, who stood by me during my runs and waited for me at the finish line.

[Collection of medals together with my debating trophies and Hard Rock Cafe pin collection]

Onwards to running in 2013!

Merry Christmas from Team Teh Tarik!

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 03:12:00 +0000

<data:blog.pageName/> <data:blog.title/> <data:blog.pageTitle/>

It's here again.

Its that time of the year where the holiday spirits are high and everywhere around the world, people are joyfully running around getting themselves ready for the spirit and Christmas and of course the absolute joy of holidays!

Its amazing that even in a multiracial country like Malaysia, we would still be enjoying the holiday spirits, which I believe is a true testament to our tolerance and share of holidays with one another, despite the differences.

Usually this time of the year, I would be back to my mother's hometown (and even mine!) in Kota Kinabalu Sabah to celebrate with my family there. However this year, I am stuck in KL for work (plus I took a week off recently for my Caribbean Holiday) and could only relay my wishes back home from another medium. Nevertheless, it should not be a dampener to the holidays spirits and so should you guys!

On that note on behalf of the rest of Team Teh Tarik, I would like to wish you guys out there a great Christmas ahead and all the happy holiday wishes to everyone else! To those that are celebrating Christmas, I wish you all the joy where ever you guys are and for those who are not, enjoy the holidays as I would and look forward for the coming new year ahead!

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!

[ADV] Hypp TV SyFy End Of The World

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 03:28:00 +0000

Ah yes, with all the hype regarding the Mayan prediction of "the end of days" that is suppose to happen today, a lot of people have been writing or talking about it, either whether it is going to happen or it should be a bunch of bullhockey. Honestly speaking I am not too bothered about it as from my last trip to the Mayan grounds of Belize kinda assures me of what I think would happen on the 21st of December.

[I tried asking this Mayan friend of mine about the prediction but I was promptly ignored...]

With all these predictions in mind, no one really knows for sure what is going to happen today until the day passes. But what if there is something about this whole disaster that we will actually know will happen over the coming weeks?

[Hypp TV. You can't get anymore hip than that! :D]

Starting from Wednesday at 8.20pm, the good people that brings you HyppTV and repeats on Saturdays at 10.50pm, they will be showcasing some of the best movies that would best prepare you for doomsday occurrences should it happen to you, and of course all in HIGH DEFINITION!

So what are some of these shows that they are showing?

You got movies like Alien Tornado (November 7, Wednesday @ 8.20pm) that basically tells you the story of an extraterrestrial "superstorm" that is heading Earth's way and the only way for people to survive is to make a run for it to the nearest safe place, of course.

Directed by Jeff Burr, the premise of the entire movie includes your usual explosions, panic people running and good old human determination of surviving and storming a global catastrophic meltdown. Sounds like a good mix of an awesome sit in movie. Oh and wait for the end, there is a surprise that is a little closer to home... :D

They will also be showcasing Super Storm (November 14, Wednesday @ 8.20pm) which tells a story of Jupiter’s famous blemish, the Great Red Spot, which has vanished. When massive storms are reported in North America, it quickly becomes apparent that the huge, high storm that has been swirling around Jupiter for hundreds of years has landed on Earth. Swallowing up everything in its path, the Great Red Spot threatens to transform Earth into another Jupiter-like gas giant in just a matter of days!

Giant tornado, real life occurrence in a distant planet and of course one teenager's attempt to stop all this from a science project. Epic is on the way.

Of course not all of the shows are about disaster storms and destruction. Lightning Strikes (November 21, Wednesday @ 8.20pm) showcases a storyline that involves aliens terrorizing a small city by literally "frying" its residence through strikes of electricity. Some may run but some decides to fight back at the extra terrestrial with its own medicine before things get too far.

Although we have had our fair share of alien invasion disaster movies in the past, you know you can never go wrong with that!

If there is anything that scares people the most (thank you 2012 the movie) is the unpredictable weather. In Weather Wars (November 28, Wednesday @ 8.20pm), an eminent scientist goes haywire and becomes determined to seek revenge. In true mad scientist fashion, he transforms weather into a force of destruction of death, controlled only by his whims. Now, it is up to his two sons, estranged brothers played by Jason London (Dazed and Confused, Jason and The Argonauts) and Wes Brown (True Blood, Private Practice), to team up and put a stop to their father’s dastardly plans of destroying the nation’s capital. We hope they remember to bring an umbrella.

If you think you have not have enough of tornado movies already, HyppTV also showcases Metal Tornado (December 5, Wednesday @ 8.20pm). The story follows Samuel Planck, who is head of a high tech facility tasked with storing and converting renewable energy, and after years of research it is now time to test the system out. But when the facility is unable to control the massive amount of energy coming in, the charged particles begin swirling around quickly turning into a magnetic tornado. Planck and his team must find a way to stop the tornados before they destroy everything.

Crazy scientist project that loses out of control. Sounds extremely plausible. Stop meddling you crazy scientists...

Its been a while since we have had an epic movie about big, large, planetary proportion objects that is hurdling Earth's way. With Collision Earth (December 12, Wednesday @ 8.20pm) the storyline tells on a natural disaster that happens to another planet which is going to be a huge problem to ours. When the sun converts to a magnetar for a short time, the planet Mercury is thrown out of orbit (along with a spaceship exploring it) and set on a collision course for Earth. Can a disgraced scientist manage to use his failed weapon system, Project 7, to save our planet?

We'll soon find out!

With awesome movies like this, what is missing now are now heavyweight actors to spice up the whole disaster movie. With SuperCyclone (December 19, Wednesday @ 8.20pm) the story explores a mega cyclone threatens to rip the East Coast of the United States off the map with deadly winds and killer waves. Before the storm claims millions of lives, a beautiful meteorologist (Ming-Na, SGU Stargate Universe) must join forces with a street-smart petroleum engineer (Nicholas Turturro, NYPD Blue) to brave the elements and save the day.

So with programming with epic proportions that is installed for HyppTV, one would be glued to their seats with movies like these, despite all the predictions that was made by the Mayans and everything that is happening around us. As far as we are concerned, even with disasters like this was to happen, come at least we would still have hope that one person with that science project/ experiment machinery/ ingenious plan would come out and finally save the day. Well, at least that's what the movies will tell us.... :D

Happy Watching people and stay safe!

Teh Tarik Drinker on Anarchy Island - Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Teh Tarik Drinker) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Many apologies on the delay on this post AGAIN. There was so many things that I wanted to write about this post that I did not know where to start. Then again, I was dreading on writing this post because it was our final night in the island and we did have a appropriate farewell ceremony to cap the un"Belize"able (get it get it?) trip we have gone through so far. More on that later...

[The morning after the party was a gorgeous one!]

As we woke up from what was the best party I have ever attended in my life, we shuffled our way to join the rest for breakfast at our usual dining area. There we were told that today, the party will continue but they have a huge surprise installed for us again today. Since that last night was a pool party, they decided to make today's event a beach party!

To me I figured that would be kinda cool but we have been doing activities at the same beach on the first day so it would be nothing different. That was when they corrected me on my assumption.

They have arranged to leave us on a private island, with the girls and the DJ to just party there!

[Everyone was excited to go!]

As we finished our breakfast, more and more people came to join us at the dining area and once again they were also briefed of the same thing like how we did. The best thing was that despite the shoddy weather that we have been getting for the last two days, today was an extremely clear day with no cloud or rain in sight. We were set for a really good beach day!

[Ave helping me out with some sunblock, as the sun was at it very best today!]

[Looking for a place for me to sit on the boat]

As we were waiting for our boat rides to come, we were told that there will be 3 boats that will take us there and the journey will take between 45 to 1 hour 15 minutes to reach from our resorts, depending which boat you will take. The reason why I say that is because two of the boats are speed boats that will get you there post haste but the other one is a bigger, slower boat that would also transport the stuff there.

We unfortunately got the slower boat. -.-'

[Ave with her awesome bikini shirt]

[While Shen Thuu managed to get the attention of the girls, just by sitting down]

And so we undertook the journey to this anticipated island. I have to admit that I have had my fair share of beach trips in my life but never have I experienced having an entire island for ourselves for a day and just enjoying our time there so I was excited to see as to how this island was going to look like.

1 hour and a few bumpy waves later (Ave unfortunately got sick half way...), we were here!

[Land Ahoy!]

[Aptly put sign for us to spot!]

[Everyone was already spotting their place on the beach!]

The entire island itself was just a teeny tiny island in the middle of nowhere with the clearest of water you can ever imagine and the whitest sand for us to play on. Since we were on the slowest boat, everyone else was there when we arrived but that would only mean that everything was already set up when we came!

So as we disembarked from our boat, we hit the food hut for some grub!

[Best life principles I have since since Hakuna Matata]

[Shen Thuu and I decided to take on a silly picture]

The Ranguana Caye is one of the many cluster of islands that people can rent to get away from everything and its pretty much fully equipped with beach house cabins and such for an unforgettable stay in your very own private island. I was also told that honeymooners usually come here to spend time with themselves and really enjoy the beach on their own, without the disturbance of others. How romantic...

[Beach front in front of the cabin]

[The Man 'o' War Cabin]

[I love this picture of Ave and I]

Coming back to the food, somehow rather they managed to transport our barrel of fruit punch as well as a bucket load full of barbeque chicken, veges and yummy potato salads on to the island. Not to mention the copious amount of seafood to top as well. I was hungry as anything so no surprise the first thing I did was to dig in.

[Buffet line]

[BBQ Chicken, steam long beans and carrots, potato salad and a cookie. Yum yum]

[Even the girls were happily muching on the food]

[So are the Malaysian boys!]

[anyone wants to be that fish head? :D]

Once we were finished with our food (I admit I took seconds), we then proceeded to the beach for some fun. The thing is there was nothing much really planned for us once we got here because the organizers figured that it would only be appropriate for us to be stranded there without a plan together with the girls and just go nuts. Duly noted.

[Beach time!]

Oh did I mention, they even brought Freddy the DJ as well to the island for him to spin the entire time we were there?

[Heya Freddy!]

[Ben our official photographer for the event!]

[Me and the boys getting ready for the beach!]

Trust me, it was not like we had nothing to do there in that beach. We had loads of things to do there I didn't know where to start! (apart from splashing around in the sea of course...

We had some beach volley ball and football

[Heads up!]

[Awesome return shot]

We had some playing beach frisbee, which got intense!

[Shen Thuu going frisky!]

We had some who basically stayed in the water the whole time. No idea why...

[Ah I see why...]

But most important of all, spending time with the girls who were looking at their absolute best in their bikinis, glistening in the sun.

I'll be quiet now.

[This tree stump seems to be a popular place to take pictures]

[See what I mean? :)]

[Photo op of us with the girls]

[another pic perfect shot with the girls]

[One of the girls found a hermit crab who didn't want to come out and say hi. Wonder why...]

[This is seriously an awesome "wish you were here" shot!]

So as the day goes by, we were all set to return back to our boats to go back to our resort for another activity. Before that, we wanted to get a group picture with the girls, as a momento for this event.

[Girls are all posed and ready]

[Even got them so say hi to you guys!]

[Yes, you would not be able to stop me smiling like that!]

[The Brits managed to find some seashells by the beach. Look at the size of them!]

And so we bid adieu to our little private island and headed back to the resort. A lot of gloomy faces in the boat that night simply because we knew that this was going to be it, the last night we were going to enjoy ourselves on this trip before going back to our own reality. It has been awesome to be honest and we were all dead set to make it a big bang for tonight's last party.

[Our boat ride back home]

[Things got a little nutty on our boat on the way back]

When we got back, naturally our day at the beach kinda wore us out big time so we took some time off to catch some sleep in our resort before the night comes. At that point my ankles were seriously killing me because I kinda spent the entire time running around the uneven surface of the beach with my busted ankle from my previous runs. Ouch...

That night, we rendezvoused to the porch area of the resort for some roast dinner and of course, our finale party!

[Makeshift waterfall at our saltwater pool]

[Coconuts for drinks?]

[Found a friend that let me rest on]

[David with his big lobster dinner! Yum!]

So as we continued on with dinner, the organisers came around and told us that they have prepared a special theme for our event tonight and brought some props along to assist us on this. The theme for the night was "Tribal Night" so they brought along some guys who were supplying as much tribal wear and accessories that we can actually keep for ourselves as well as some face painters to give us some fake tribal tattoo!

[Ave getting her face painted]

[David was rocking the grass dress]

[Our dinnertime entertainment for the night]

[While I got myself a Maori tribal paint going....]

[... the obvious choice was the "Mike Tyson" of course!]

It was afterwards came the best part of the night. We were told to shuffle along the beach line for a special occasion. Since that this night was going to be the last night of us here, it was only appropriate for us to say goodbye to the island in the most beautiful way I could ever imagine. So, we were told to gather...

[Everyone gathering...]

And we were each given paper laterns to light up and float as a symbol of our presence here in the island for the last three days! If you guys don't know what this is all about, be prepared to see something quite spectacular...

[we lighted the bottom burner]

[Hold it steady with your partner. Of course you were suppose to do it with an Axe girl. This one looks sh'abit gay]

[A just let it float on its own!]

I know that this might look simple enough but once everyone got theirs on the air, it was seriously a spectacular sight to see, especially in the distance. Ave and I actually managed to get ours quite high up in the air and once we were done, we just sat there and enjoyed the view.

Enjoy the pictures guys!

[Hold it steady...]

[Floating with our memories of the island]

As we silently watched the lights go out one after the other in the far distance, I think a lot of us were starting to get a little nostalgic with our memories here. To brush it off, we then decided to party the night away as how we expected to end our last night in the island!

[We even had fire dancers in our party!]

[Yoga Flame!]

[Doing the horsey dance one last time]

[Had a great chat with the girls about, believe it or not, FITNESS! :P]

[the girls showing off their colours!]

[Tribal FTW!]

And thus we closed in a great night as to bid farewell for our great time here in Belize. I went around the other chalets to say goodbye to those that I might not see tomorrow during our departure and felt that everyone was feeling rather sad for leaving back home. If there is anything that we took back from this, is a serious great memory in this island.

[Oh yeah!]

Next up will be Day 5 - We Say Adieu to Axe Anarchy Island