A week ago I got a surprise package from @NandosMalaysia, and was pleasantly surprised when I was reminded that Mother’s Day was coming. Not only that, they even prepared a gift for her, too )))))

However I was ever so busy with EYE Project‘s big project in partnership with SEC called the GradMalaysia Graduate Careers Fair (which was a success by the way, with DS @IdrisJala_ giving one of the best speech I ever heard & DS @HishammuddinH2O & family visiting the student leaders in between their packed schedule) that I could not plan anything for my mom.

 

 

We were invited to this exclusive private IMAX 3D screening of ‘The Avengers‘ at @TGVCinemas, Sunway Pyramid on behalf of Harley Davidson Malaysia and Echosphere – and how could I say no after looking at the itinerary they provided us with. Yes, even though this is the second time I’m watching it in the same cinema, one week after my first time right after it launched here in Malaysia! 

It started off  by meeting up my long time friend Emily Er at Harley-Davidson 3S showroom, located at Naza Automall, Petaling Jaya to take a look at what they have to offer. Strangely we were attracted to our own super bikes and this was my choice! Nice? Well it costs RM300,000++ so it’ll take me many long years of hard work before I can think about owning one

Then it’s Emily’s turn. She can’t take her eyes off Captain America‘s shield.. bet she’s daydreaming about his body already after watching the #Avengers hahahah! (Though she said she loved The Hulk at the end )

And the lovely lady behind the wheels is Your Highness the @Helenness, founder of Echosphere and a woman I’ve marked as one of our many future leaders. You’ll go far, just continue to learn and experience the toughest times, stay true to yourself and you’ll emerge a winner! Thanks for the invite

Emily and I chose to be in the comfort of the Colorado. Nothing beats aircon And the view is gorgeous, being surrounded by the loud roaring of Harley-Davidson bikes as well as escorted by police and their sirens… AMAZING!

And look who’s with us! It’s @JehanMiskin the celebrity on his own Harley-Davidson bike

We had some time to kill before the movie so we went to Haagen-Daaz for some good ol’ (but expensive!) ice cream… and this is what we ordered. Cute? These small morsels of what looks like Macaroons are actually bits of hardened chocolate with ice cream inside and costs a bomb! Nice to try, but definitely not value for money

Have you heard of myBurgerLab? Of course not, they haven’t launched yet. But what they HAVE done is to recreate the hamburger experience like you’ve never eaten before. The very name itself implies as such, no? 

Let’s have a look at it shall we?

Looks aren’t very deceiving. They taste as good as it looks and no surprise to why the bun is black in colour

Them yellow buns are special, but in what way, I can’t tell just yet. No, not just yet haha.

After a chat with the founders, I’m really excited to see what else is in store for all of us. A grouping of young entrepreneurs so passionate about what they believe in, these guys will be wowing us with their selection of burgers, forcing us to rethink the way we always see them. Hence, the name myBurgerLab

For starters they already have some juicy fries that will definitely whet your appetite. I can tell no more

This here is their latest development, called the “Ooey Gooey Stack”. Here’s one angle…

And this is the other. Oh, and don’t pray pray with the size yo! And definitely don’t play play with the taste, it really is good as they’ve been working so hard to perfect the recipe.

Newfound friend Veron and with her “A+ Burger”. Love the little pinkie!

Karena Cheow makes a re-entry again. Which looks better; the burger or her?

Anyhow, do follow their progress via their Facebook account: myBurgerLab. Why do you think they are called that, by the way? Can you make a guess? Anyhow, there’s so much more to come and I can’t wait for their launch! 

The Leader. The Follower. The Supporters. Which one are you?

There’s nothing like the feeling of knowing you can leave matters to other people without fear that it will all go wrong without you being there. That is my definition of sustainability. The fact that it, be it projects, initiatives, businesses, can sustain with, or without you.

Yet this sustainability factor is what I feel is lacking in many of the initiatives I’ve come to know, at least here in Malaysia. Why is that? What could be the problem here?

This is what I have to say.

Once in a while a leader pops in and does something really amazing. Those are the times when you can only gape in awe of how that person is able to do what he or she did. Then come the people who support the things they do, and as they come, they gape, the share, they support, they did whatever they could.

Yet, they would not even try to emulate the leader of whom they support, leaving the leader to do most of the work, in fear that they may not be able to be like their leader with the inhuman strength they possess (or so they think).

In comes the first follower. The follower, without worrying too much about what is needed to be able to perform as well as the leader does, tries to emulate the leader. The follower never saw him or herself as a follower, but as a partner-in-crime, ready to replace a limb or a leg of the leader, when the time comes. The follower takes the initaitive to be PART of the system, and understand the flow of the work, so he or she is able to support the leader to the best of his or her ability. Soon, the follower begins to show signs of commitment to the leader’s objectives, and the leader appreciates.

As the supporters start looking at the follower, who is but a simple person, they soon realize that they, too, can play a bigger role and step up to fill in certain shoes that awaits them, according to their abilities. They too, could see that this follower is but a normal human being, not possessing the skills the leader has, yet is able to do bits and pieces required of him, more than just supporting, liking and sharing of the work. Slowly, the supporters from afar begin to join hands forward, wanting to be part of history in the making. Together, they dare. Alone, they are afraid. But now, with the follower’s guidance (being more human than the leader is), they know they are up for it, and that they CAN.

The Leader. The Follower. The Supporters. Which one are you?
Before this, I did not know, confused between all three.

But now I do.

I am actually a Follower. Be it the first or not, I do not care. I have picked leaders I believe in, and I become their greatest follower. I share their dreams, I put my abilities to the best to push their agendas. I wholeheartedly become one with their desires. It is because I believe in their work and effort, and it is by choice. My ego is such that I know I am good at a certain ability, and therefore it gave me confidence to step the steps which they have taken. And yet, my ego does not prevent me from emulating their methodologies – because I believe that they are right, even if there was a better way. I’ve decided the the role I play in life, is to be the best follower you’ll ever come to face. Who’s to say that all of us have to become a leader anyway?

In fact, who’s to say being a follower is a bad thing, at all? It definitely beats just being a supporter. And if my fellow leaders don’t know it yet (and trust me, sometimes they just don’t realize it anyway because of how they are) – it is because of the followers you have, that you were able to get that far. It breeds sustainability. It breeds successors to your cause. Actually, it helps humanize leaders in such a way that a decent person can follow. THAT is how important being a follower is.

In life, everybody has a role to play. All you really need to do, is know that role, and do a pretty hell of job about it, and you’ll find that you’re able to make achievements that no one else can! More than that, you’ll find that the team functions extremely well when each role is played out super efficiently. Haven’t you realized it?

What if I tell you that being a First Follower, is in fact, a leadership style in its own way? Thanks to @JasonLeeCJ, I’ve finally come to realize that I AM a leader, by being a very efficient First Follower. This is what he showed to me, and I urge all of you to watch this video, too.

Isn’t that an eye opener? It is to me, at least. Derek @Sivers who I got to meet many months ago came back into my life to teach me a super important message – being a follower is the most underappreciated form of leadership – HOW TRUE!

Soon, you’ll realize that you don’t always have to do things you don’t like to do. Or set yourself impossible goals you’ll never get around doing. Soon, you’ll realize that wherever you are now, there’s still so much left to be done to develop yourself in whatever you do. You’ll find out how important it is to work with leaders, and also set an example to the followers. Sustainability & succesion will be the two key words to think about whenever you even begin.

Now, you should realize that you being where you are, is as important as the next person above or below you.

This blogpost is dedicated to all my fellow Followers I have met throughout my life, the awesome likes of @ChenChow and many more. Who else do you think is a follower-leader material? Just think of the person behind your success – that’s who it is

In less than two weeks, the Sepang International Circuit will be transformed into a ’river of light’ by 5,000 runners of this year’s Energizer Night Race. To ensure a safe and enjoyable sporting event, Energizer Malaysia and race organisers Twenty First Century Sports will be providing final race announcements in conjunction with the race kit collection this Saturday the 14^th of April at Olympic Sports Hotel. Who’s going with me?!

What to expect? Mr. Nithiaseelan Vegayathunam, managing director of Twenty First Century Sports will be covering the race day programme, detailed race routes, essential running tips, facilities and car parking information during the press conference. I’m sure this time they want to show you that they, unlike the previous organizers (and the nightmare that ensued), are prepared to make this race a close-to-perfect event, and I’m really keen to join it

Energizer will also announce the impressive contribution that the company and its nationwide partners have pledged so far for its charity partner, Kiwanis Malaysia, that will go to the 20 permanent Kiwanis Centres which serve and educate underprivileged children and youths, as well as Kiwanis’ Going to School with Kiwanis programme that equips poor primary schoolchildren with a dictionary to inspire them to excel in school.

Look for me @spinzer on my bib. Chances are, I’ll get left behind at the last few groups @_@

http://www.energizernightrace.com.my/

PS – Standard Chartered Marathon coming up again too. Did you see my DOUBLE WIN about it last year?

A long time ago I was already eyeing on the build up of the Youtube community here in Malaysia. I had no doubt that we Malaysians were most suited to jump onto the Youtube bandwagon, at least in South East Asia, after it became a big hit globally. Why? Because we’re a bunch of super creative, super talented people who, frankly speaking, have too much time in the world. That, AND coupled with the fact that we’re surrounded by hi-tech devices and very much improved internet connectivity (thanks UNIFI). All that was needed, are a couple of hardworking people, a lot of stuff to share, a little bit of video recording knowledge and lots and lots of balls and ego to break our unusually shy demeanour.

Below, is such an example of a beautifully rendered production that could come off as a rojak of Yasmin Ahmad’s familiar sentimental direction, collaboration of a few Malaysian Youtube stars ala US’s @Kevjumba and @nigahiga style, amazing cinematography with nothing less of a short feature film’s expectation and stitched together by an amazing soundtrack, if not just to give a lasting impression to the viewers. Watch.

My Generasi – JinnyBoyTV

But it didn’t always start out this way. Nope. A lot of experiments (and copying) of the different methods from the west were tested by our pioneering community, and while some got little or at best mild support by the rest of our Malaysian brothers and sisters, most got ridiculed by them. After all, aren’t Malaysians the best critics of their own nation, at all times?

I still remember, some 2 years back, stumbling across some our would-be rising stars, who were getting pretty decent hits and had so much talent to share. Some of them include Youtubers like @inianwarhadi and @themingfeed, who were some of the earliest vloggers/singers I encountered.

They were pretty good! @IniAnwarHadi was filling in voids and gaps that were existent for the Malay market, who by the way, makes up most of the online population here in Malaysia. His content, hilarious yet educational, made excellent substitutes for crappy TV shows, and the creative way he sees certain things which we can connect to as locals make it an even better watch! Ps- his videos can come up to 500k-700k hits, and that’s IMPRESSIVE!

As for @themingfeed, he had something else to offer – beneath the first few videos he created to showcase his singing prowess together with some guest singers, he showed that there was effort being made to be as good, if not better, than the other Youtubers on the net. He later went on to prove this by coming out with his own short film, which had garnered a lot of views and shares not only among Malaysians but beyond that too, using his uncanny ability to connect and reach out to you in the way he produces the video. Enjoy.

Alone, Forever? – DMingThing

Nice? Bet you it was. I had my eye on him when I first saw his old singing video, and thought hard on how to meet him so that I could help him expand on his vision. It wasn’t till @missycheerio’s birthday party that I got to see him, and boy was he surprised to know that he had a fan from all the way in the UK (I was studying in London back then). I wanted him to be a star, to be recognized for his talents. And Youtube, was the channel for him to do so.

You see, my understanding on social media, is that one’s influence, or reach, doesn’t just stop with their Facebook friends, Twitter following, or the most common denominator of all (at least to online ad agencies)- blog readership. Already various tools and platform are shared out there in the world wide web, free for us to use and thus allowing everyone to have a chance at creating content in their own preferred style, reaching out to the pockets of untapped demographics of a larger, invisible pie, thereby claiming that particular space for their own.

In the Youtube space, that is exactly what happened. The few pioneers in Youtube community are right now getting easily a 500,000 hits video, if one did everything right. That’s a HUGE number to many others!

Heck, even one vlogger by the name of Joseph Germani, or @GermaniPro on Twitter, grabbed Youtube by the balls and created a personality for himself on that channel! Starting off on humble beginnings, the guy managed to fight off haters (who hated him for his guts and his ability to be so self-absorbed in his videos) and have steadily gained an increasing number of fans who would now fight for him! Check the #LouSai out

 #LikeALouSai (Like A Boss) – Germani Productions

Yeap, he allegedly started the whole “#LikeALouSai” trend on Twitter, Facebook and many other places. He also started collaborating with many other Youtubers OUTSIDE of Malaysia. This guy really dreams big, and big dreams he definitely has. He has certainly created a following for himself on Youtube

Oh and speaking of dreams, a friend that I fondly know as one of the artists in Bolehland.net (a webcomic site) also shocked me with his ability to create short films! If it weren’t for collaboration between some of the Youtubers, I wouldn’t have found this really awesome video he did that reminded me of Counterstrike… and boy was it really well done! Check it out!

School of war – Dan Khoo Productions

Impressed? Well he’s not stopping there, for sure! Another wicked short film he created, this time involving my sister @SandraTock even! Ps- she’s now a celebrity appearing in almost every medium out there, from newspapers,  to websites, to people’s Facebook wall, Twitter – she’s everywhere! Check out the video below:

Memories  - Dan Khoo Productions

Seriously, thanks to Youtube, talented people like these guys get to show their stuff to the world. Here’s hoping that he’ll one day take the challenge to create a real blockbuster movie one day, a protege to some super director one day, who knows!

Of course, thanks to celebrities like @JinnyBoy, who also created his production team with some friends of him, the Malaysian Youtube scene has never seen so much light of the day. One of his very first work collaborating with @GermaniPro got so much attention that it literally went on wildfire on most Malaysian’s social media platforms – because his content was notoriously naughty and local to boot! For example, catch this typical scene at a shop in Malaysia…

Ah Wing – Malaysia’s Number 1 Salesman - JinnyBoyTV

As if that wasn’t funny enough, he and his team made another production featuring a very commonly used word among us youngsters – you’ve got to watch it.

ABUDEN?! – JinnyBoyTV

And now you know how we came to expect new youtube videos such as Generasi Saya… with improvement after improvement, hard work after hard work, these guys work tirelessly to provide us with content that ultimately unites us together as friends, blind to everything else. Seriously, I, and so do you, should have nothing but respect for these guys, who are more than willing to accept your feedback and even your hate messages! 

Who knows, via Youtube, these guys could be real stars one day, if they aren’t already. We’re pretty sure this Esther K, who’s video got recognized AND publicized by Ryan Seacrest (yeap!) for more than 3 times I think, may actually reach stardom if she continues to do what she does best – sing! As of know, all her videos get plenty of hits and her fanbase on Facebook keeps on growing.. not bad for a super young girl with mediocre looks! (don’t kill me!)

because of you-kelly clarkson (cover-esther.k.) – Esther K

With all of that, the launch of Youtube Malaysia shouldn’t come as a surprise to Malaysians. Now that you know the community is really thriving, and much more effort is being done to help the community grow (both newcomers and existing players), we can certainly expect a lot more of our own content coming in and I really hope this will all translate to positive news for our country’s entertainment industry. 

My only hope is that Youtube Malaysia will play a larger part in contributing to the community, giving more Youtube Partnership to those who earn it, for one thing, and not just focused on the advertising side of this really beautiful platform, as we can see bigwigs like @MAS and @ETP_ROADMAP taking advantage of this new ad feature, haha. Must be good money huh? 

Rock on Malaysian Youtubers! I salute you!