Kita- The Flash Mob (June 6th)

Phew! That's all I can say, after a long but fruitful day out with young folks who are matured in mind. It was an awesome experience and I would like to share that with you.

Woke up at 7am this morning. Damn tired cuz yesterday night I attended a colleague's wedding dinner at TTDI. Anyway, that's besides the point. OK, after waking up, I checked the CausePlay inbox to see whether there were any last min matters that needed to be taken care of for today's mob. None. Checked the fb wall. None. OK, went to get ready, and headed off to the ERL station.

Reached KL Sentral around 8:29am. Obviously, no one was there. Ah, I remember now. I would have hung out more at the ERL Waiting Lounge, but there was a blind man sitting beside me in the train, so I had to guide him up to the exit area, hence I couldn't hang out in the Waiting Lounge. Anyway, so, I went to Burger King to wait for the rest of the CausePlayers.

8:30am

8:35am

8:40am

8:45am

Ping! I see the guys from IACT College lugging bags of T-shirts and freebies and also posters. Amazing kids I tell you! Went to introduce myself. They're so damn cool, with their tattoos, sense of fashion, hair, glasses, piercings. How I wish I had lived that path during my teens. Hmm *dreamy*

Anyway, slowly one by one the CausePlay mobbers started trickling into the meeting point. By then, it had already been 9:10am.

So, finally we headed into the bus (our designated "flash mob tour" bus), with our McD breakfast sets waiting for us :) Yummeee..

First stop was Times Square at 10:30am. We started off by singing the "Negaraku" while being blindfolded. Then the IACT lecturer recited a poem by A. Samad Said. We removed our blindfolds and started singing childhood songs. It was so awesome cuz it was accompanied by the kompang. The shoppers were just staring at us, some taking photos, some shooting videos.

Next, we headed off to Central Market. Yes, I know, probably one of the more dodgier places in the heart of KL City. It was kinda like Chow Kit Street, with all the stalls selling arts and crafts. Saw this stall inside Central Market selling T-shirts with really catchy statements printed on them. E.g., "Naked Inside" using the Intel Inside logo. Wanted to buy one of the shirts, but they were trying to rip me off for RM35. I was like, you might as well rob me in bright daylight.

So, at 12pm (I think), we did our thing again at the area near the kereta lembu. Cool, had better responses from the crowd, cuz Central Market being the area where tourists frequent and not forgetting the very very dodgy immigrant workers.

Next, we headed off to Kompleks PKNS Shah Alam. When we first landed, we got a vanilla sundae. Yippee! Then we went around the complex with our Kita T-shirts on, drawing a lot of attention from the public cuz they were thinking that we were from some kinda mob (like a kongsi gelap), which is kinda true right? We ARE a flash MOB group :)

So, at 2pm (I think), we did our thing again, right smack in the front entrance. People from McD and the shoppers were watching but didn't really do much (except for one lady that was recording our gig). So, I told Kim that the crowd was kinda "stoned" and she took it as "they were too stoned cuz our gig was so awesome". Right.

Then, we had our lunch at the park (by the lake) opposite Kompleks PKNS. Nice view (but dirty water), slightly breeezy but damn hot. Good company. Everyone just sat on the benches and ate the nasi goreng.

After that, we headed off for our last stop which was at Lot 10. This time, we didn't sing. Instead, all of us did a formation in a straight line, hands locking with the person next to each other, while being blindfolded, did a freeze. So, technically it was a blind freeze. Damn awesome cuz you know Lot 10 being a hot spot for tourists, we managed to get the attention and awareness that we wanted.

So, all in all, tiring day but really amazing. Enjoyed meeting fun and young people (cuz they make me feel young) and learning from them at the same time :)

Shoutout goes out to:

Jacqueline

Cody
Thaqifah
Khiflani
Siti Zurya
Elina Suyani

Shaheera

Aris Hushaini
Mohd Faisal
Zackrey
Danial Hasif
Muhammad Amirul
Mohd Fazrin Shah
Ainul Hafzan

Daniel

Steven

You guys ROCK!! Looking forward to next week's!! :):)

Quarter Finals: R16 SEA Final

Wakaka Fever (MY) vs Big Toe (VN)

R16 Southeast Asia Final Judges

Bboy Free (Soul Shifters Crew)

Bboy Born (Rivers Crew)

Bboy The End (Gamblerz Crew)

VFM: The Videos

Here you go. Enjoy!!

VFM: Post-mortem

All I can say about VFM is...

AWESOME!!! Never would I have thought that it would be such a success. It was indeed a catapult of success vs the Christmas Beatboxing & Singing Flash Mob. I loved every single moment of it, and I'm sure the participants and the photographers did as well.

Here's a brief account of what actually happened at KL Sentral (1st wave of VFM).

I arrived at KL Sentral at about 12:57pm. But even on the way, my phone was already ringing off the hook cuz I was receiving phone calls and sms-es from the participants enquiring and confirming certain details. I have never felt so popular in my life =p

So, when I reached, I met up with Charz and Fran. Thanks to them, the VFM had a big-ass hailer to scream out the instructions to the participants. So, slowly one by one, the mobbers started trickling in. Some came in couples, some in groups, some single. Went around meeting the mobbers. It's very interesting that these people actually came to know about the VFM through a 3 or 4 degrees of separation method (i.e. they found out via their friend's friend's friend's friend, obviously I do not know any of them). I love facebook. If there was no decent man left in the world, I'd take fb anytime, hands down (even if it turns out that fb is a "She").

So, by 1:30pm, we started with the briefing (although it was originally scheduled to start at 1pm, but you know the Malaysian attitude) using the big-ass hailer mentioned above. The mobbers were very supportive, paying close attention to the modus operandi and asking when they had doubts. Could tell that they were very very keen and supportive. Oh, note to those that ffk on us, go and screw yourself.

So, we divided ourselves into little teams with a leader (either voluntary, or forced voluntariness =p) and designated locations to each team. Main focus was on the concourse area of KL Sentral, just outside McDonalds.

At 2pm, we started. Oh, btw, there was this group of German ladies who looked suspiciously-keen, so I went up to them and asked whether they were there for an event. The lady was like, "Oh yea, we're here for a flash mob". My heart was screaming in JOY. I said, "Yes, you're right on time, we're just about to start. Why don't you get settled and join in?"

So, at 2pm, we started. I did not freeze cuz there was no videographer, so me being the kuli, had to step in. There was literally silence as commuters started stopping in their tracks and wondered what was going on. People started taking out cameras and their handphones and started recording. We even stole the limelight from this bunch of girls dressed up in Cosplay! Muahahaha. They ended up moving to the sideline and whispering to each other (probably cursing us LOL).

So, me being the kuli, was walking around recording in my not so canggih videocam known as the E71, was also trying to stir things up. I went up to some random commuters asking, "Apa yang sedang berlaku ni? Kenapa semua orang beku je?" I even overheard the Information Counter officer calling up his superiors and saying, "Semua orang tak bergerak. Beku". LOL, it's kinda funny how we translate things from English to Malay right? Freeze= Beku.

Come to think of it, he was actually pretty silly. He should have seen that I was one of the mobbers cuz I was carrying that big-ass hailer on my right shoulder. Probably the sight of someone carrying a hailer at KL Sentral is normal to him. LOL.

Anyway, there were tons of poses. Most of them attempted to stay grounded, like a mannequin. But I'd have to give them credit for pulling it off as this was their 1st time freezing in public for 5 minutes. Bravo!

So, at 2:05pm, everyone unfroze and moved away. Then, came back the noise and hustle-bustle of the KL Sentral scene. Then, we all re-grouped back at the briefing area for a de-briefing. Kudos to the photographers for moving with such speed capturing all they could in 5 minutes. Such professionalism. We will definitely hire you (for free) next time! ;)

So, after the debriefing (which ended around 2:40pm), we took some group shots and a couple of police officers came to "kacau" (sorry dude, no wang kopi for you). The policeman asked me whether I had the permit to do such event here at KL Sentral. So, I proudly took it out and waved it at his face (silently screaming "Take it suckaaaa!!). Nah, I didn't scream THAT out, but I politely told him that I had the management approval. He glanced through it, as though he was trying to spot some grammatical error. When he couldn't find fault with it, I innocently asked him, "Encik, ada apa-apa masalah ke?". Then he mumbled something and said, "Oh, ini management tahu, tapi kita polis tak tahu". WTF has an event IN a building got to do with them?!?!?! Helllooooo?!?!?!

Anyway, after that whole rigmarole was over, we all headed to the Monorail station, secara beramai-ramai like a Mickey Mouse platoon. LOL. We reached Times Square (TS) at about 2:45pm. Still early, so the gang went to Starbucks to hang out while I went to meet with the TS Officer to co-ordinate some last minute logistics.

First wave of TS VFM was at LG floor, where they were planning to slot in our gig right after the 8TV CNY Promo Tour. Lucky Styvee. We ran a little off schedule, so we started off slightly later, at about 4:45pm. It was right smack in the middle of the concourse area, where any blind person could see us. Great stuff. Reporters from every imaginable press was there. You name it, you got it. The Star, Nanyang, Sin Chew, Berita Harian (OMG!!!). So, that was my first shot (and very possibly the only shot) at stardom. So, they asked me all sorts of questions and I answered all of them. I was so beat by then I wanted to faint right in front of them. So, they asked me how to write my Chinese name and how to spell my English name. Good sign right?

Anyway, 2nd wave of TS VFM was at Ground floor, right smack in front of the main entrance. This time around, the paparazzi moment was even dialled up further. Camera flashes were all over. I took part in the freeze. Yea, wanted to experience it since I already missed out on the previous 2 gigs. My pose was with Keith, trying to shake hands midway. I could feel sweat trickling down my forehead and my leg muscle was screaming "Move your leg, damnit". Seriously tiring. Every second felt like an hour. Sometimes, you feel like you wanna scratch your hands, or wipe away your sweat, or turn your neck, or move your leg. YOU CAN'T!!

When the 5 minutes ended, me and Keith shook hands and walked away casually. Then, we all gathered at the main entrance for a group shot. I de-briefed the mobbers and thanked them. Really grateful to them for showing up. It meant the world to me.

After that, I departed for home sweet home, with an ache starting to build up on my right leg, and smiling like an ass at the same time.

What a day.

And if you're wondering why I even bothered to type out this long-ass piece of article when a video or pictures can tell more, I choose to. Because 10 years down the road, I may have suffered a case of amnesia (*touch wood*) and I would love to feel and relive the moment of what fun really means.

P/S- Video and pictures should be ready in 1 week's time. Patience is a virtue. Amen.

The Chicken Drama

Dear KFC,

As a Kentucky fried chicken eater, I would like to point out a couple of matters on the service level at one of your outlets.

It was a cold night and I was hungry. So, I decided to go to your outlet to buy a Variety Bucket and also to stock up on my stash of caffeine (Nescafe) at Giant. But the latter point isn't really relevant, but then again, come to think of it, it IS relevant (as shall be demonstrated later).

So, when I entered your outlet, I saw that there were 4 counters open for operation. Each counter had about 4 person lining up then. So, me being a really random and yet logical person, I decided to do a little mental math + stereotyping + wild guessing at the people waiting in line. I ended up lining up at the 2nd queue from the left.

That time was 9:25pm. [See how loyal I am? There was McD just across the road, but I decided to go to you instead].

The 1st lady lining up then was still looking at the menu and contemplating as to what to eat [obviously being very inconsiderate towards the hungry people lining up behind her, for one- me!]. But obviously that's out of your control, so I understand and shall not blame you for that. However, your staff manning the counter was all gay and welcoming and decided to wait with her. Can you imagine? The lady took 5 minutes to utter out what she wanted, AND your staff was an accomplice who took away 5 minutes of our lives.

OK after she had decided, here comes the horror. Nope, not cockroaches, but worse. Your staff was busy scrambling and running around looking for god-knows-what.

So, yeah, after the 4th person, it was already 9:55pm. Can you imagine? It took you 30 minutes to serve 4 people!! Wow, at the rate you're going and if you're not profiting exorbitantly from the Zinger Tower, you must not be making a lot of money. At that time, the 3 other people lining up behind me was already starting to mutter out curse words and sighing and shaking their heads. Oh thank God none of them took out a gun (or a parang in the Malaysian context) and started killing everyone at the scene. Seriously, in America, these things happen.

So, yea, it came my turn, and oh yeah, remember the statement above about the relevance of the caffeine stash story? I shall tell you the relevance now. My brother, who was lining up at Giant paying for my Nescafe the same time when I started waiting for your chickens (had 15 people queueing up in front of him) and he came back when I was just about to order my chickens. Hmm, kinda ironic huh? You figure it out yourself.

Anyway, came my turn. So I told him straight up. "Hi. Take-away. Variety Bucket. That's all". I saved everyone else the misery of "Hi, Selamat datang ke KFC. Apa yang boleh saya bantu?" [See how many syllables there are in that line?].

I looked at the display monitor which said "Hi. Nama saya Hanisah". I was thinking, "Man, Hanisah must be on some sick leave and they asked this poor trainee to take over her place". Anyway, this dude must be so new to the game that he didn't know which button to press on the cashier. So, he asked this other lady on the 1st counter, "Kak, Variety Bucket yang mana ah?". I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth.

So, that took away 30 seconds of my life. After he had punched in the button, he scrambled to look for the chickens and everything else the Bucket is supposed to have. See, I'm usually a very patient person, but this was really pushing my limits. I could tell that he has no clue what the Variety Bucket is supposed to have, cuz he kept looking at the big-ass menu on top of him.

3 pieces of Original chicken
3 pieces of Hot & Spicy chicken
1 (L) Nuggets
1 (R) Wedges
2 whipped potato

Not rocket science. How did I memorise that? Staring at the big-ass menu myself for 10 minutes while waiting for him to fill up the bucket kinda helps me to memorize.

Oh, apparently the nuggets are still frying. So, he came back to me and gave me a paper cup, with the bottom written "6" [yeah, that's my waiting number and I was told to wait for 5 minutes].

So I paid him and he asked, "Ada apa lagi yang boleh saya bantu?" I was tempted to say, "Yeah, shoot me and then go shoot yourself".

I took my almost-full Bucket and went to the seats and waited with my brother [who by that time had already engaged in a 20-minute phone conversation]. After waiting for 5 minutes as instructed, I took the paper cup back to the counter to "Hanisah" and gave my "WTF look" and showed him the "6".

He completely ignored me, as though I was invisible and continued to run around scrambling for more chickens.

So, finally after 3 minutes, he noticed me! Yay!! Hallelujah!!

He scrambled again and screamed, "Large nuggets dah siap belum?"

Yeah, 2 minutes later it was siap-ed. I took the nuggets and asked him for sauce and serviettes. He grabbed a bunch and handed them to me. I was like, "Where am I supposed to keep these? In my Doraemon pocket? Give me a plastic bag for Goodness' sake!"

He got the idea and dumped everything in a plastic bag and gave to me. I grabbed it and headed for the door, cuz it was already 10:15pm.

Now, KFC, you tell me what was wrong in the picture above and how can you improve it?

Wow, MBB, I'm impressed.

Ever since I got that letter from Maxis Broadband informing me that I have been "upgraded" from a 100mbps to 200mbps connection, I have always been curious....








as to why my internet connection is so friking fast!!

Seriously, it's even faster than a 200mbps. I would know cuz I have worked on a 1gbps line before. So, I was doing a little confirmation on my side. I went to the Start menu, then to Connections, and this sight nearly made me fall off my chair.




Wow. Period.