Tag / astro
April 29, 2013
Lara Croft, Indiana Jones, or even Columbus and Cheng Ho, these are the names that we associate with as some of the greatest explorers in fiction, games, and in history. Do you think you have what it takes to be just.. slightly similar to these names?
Well, this is your chance to star in the biggest “quest” you’ve had, codenamed “Explorer-On-The-Go” contest by Astro is perhaps your ticket to fame. (and prizes!)
OK so lets talk about the prizes first:
- Grand Prize - 2 x Samsung Galaxy S4 + (Bonus: RM800 cash each IF you are an *Astro-On-The-Go subscriber)
- 1st Runner Up - 2 x Apple iPad Mini + (Bonus: RM800 cash each IF you are an *Astro-On-The-Go subscriber)
- 2nd Runner Up - 2 x Nexus 7 + (Bonus: RM800 cash each IF you are an *Astro-On-The-Go subscriber)
- Bonus prize for top-tweeting team - RM500 cash + (another RM800 cash if you are an *Astro-On-The-Go subscriber)
- Bonus Lucky Draw (for ALL Astro-On-The-Go subscribers ONLY) - 1 x Apple iPad Mini
I think I can very well use these gadgets and prize money, as any adventurers would.
To enter the contest, write a blog post titled “I Am The Unstoppable Explorer”, more information at http://blog.nuffnang.com.my/2013/04/18/astro-on-the-go-are-you-an-unstoppable-explorer/ for exactly what you need to do. It’s pretty simple actually!
My entry would look like this – “I’m an unstoppable explorer on land and water: mountain biking trails, city scape, and even underwater explorations. The cool thing with Astro On-The-Go is that I can still catch those Live football matches wherever I find myself at. Never miss a moment, no compromise!”
Taking a photo like I did above is a bonus point 
Check out www.astroonthego.com too.
October 29, 2012
If you went to astro.com.my lately you’d have noticed something different.
The top banner right under the navigation bar is now scroll-able to the right, and give it a try, scroll it right and keep going on, and on, and on, and on….
this image is 600 pixels, the whole banner is 61,500 pixels long
It is in fact, the currently the World’s Longest Online Banner record holder, and this is made possible in conjunction with Astro On-The-Go’s “Where do YOU want Astro On-The-Go contest” that encourages users to submit a photo of them in the most creative locations enjoying Astro On-The-Go.
The contest ran from July to August and I wrote about it in this previous entry, very cool to finally see the end product of it. The banner actually tripled the previous record set by BMW.
screen shot from the AOTG Human-iPad video
And remember the Astro On-The-Go Human-iPad showcase that we got to sample in that same pool party a few months ago? Astro put on this compilation of the videos captured while the campaign was showcased at various popular locations in Klang Valley.
The video has achieved more than 260,000 views in a month. Check out the video here.
Did you know that this is in fact Asia’s first ever Human-iPad theatre, I just think the effect is really cool.
For those of you who hasn’t checked out Astro On-The-Go yet, it is now available in more devices. You can watch some of your favorite shows, including Hollywood blockbusters – The Avengers, Cabin in the woods, The Proposal, and local favourites – Ombak Rindu, Adam dan Hawa..etc. and even Korean dramas.
Astro On-The-Go is available on
- Computer via web
- iPad
- iPhone
- selected Samsung devices
And by the way, I wanna congratulate the winners - Soo Siew Kuan, Ahmad Faizal bin Hashim, Tan Siang Leng, Ng Pui Hai, Fariza Ilyani binti Mustaffa, and Khairul Faizal bin Jamaludalin. They walked away with iPads & Astro On-The-Go merchandises.
I.. didn’t win. Maybe better luck next time!
June 19, 2012
You know your colleagues are Euro 2012 junkies if they are zombies at work in this past couple weeks. Those 2:45 am matches are killers, but at the same time they are shaping up to be so awesomely exciting, with most teams still has a chance to go through.
Astro-On-The-Go on iPad and web browser
Since it’s already the 3rd and final group matches, many of them are played simultaneously. For those who only watches it on TV, there’s the special channel that shows both games on the same screen, but for those with Astro On-The-Go like me, we get to stream one on iPad or web, and the other on TV. Yesss!
If you watched the Portugal vs Holland game and missed the Germany vs Croatia game or vice versa, you will understand the pain of constantly flipping those two channels. Group games don’t get any more exciting than that. It made me wanna go out and play futsal the very next day.
If you haven’t check out Astro On-The-Go, you’re missing out big time
The Pool party:
Astro is kicking off the platform with a cool party for bloggers and blog readers alike too, this is a chance to meet like minded people and have loads of fun curtesy of Astro. Details are as follow:
Date: 23rd June 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: The Pool @ 347, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Dress code: Your favorite football jersey
You’ll get to experience Astro-On-The-Go at the event, and there are also fun & games where you stand a chance to win a new iPad. The best dress person to the party will walk away with another new iPad as well.
So what do you need to do to score a free invite to the party?
Simple, go to http://www.nuffnang.com.my/blog/2012/06/13/astro-on-the-go-party/ and complete the following sentence in 50 words or less. “The UEFA Euro Football Championships will be so much better with Astro On-The-Go because…” on the comment box at that page (and not this blog post!). The most creative and witty comment wins a pair of passes to the exclusive event.
There are 30 invites and contest ends 20th June 2012, 9.00am.
Belimbing watching Astro-On-The-Go on iPad
Where Do YOU Want Astro On-The-Go?
Other than the party, there’s also the rather interesting contest – Where Do YOU Want Astro-On-The-Go? Share a photo of YOURSELF (my example above is only valid if I am Belimbing the cat, and that it shows the “Astro-On-The-Go” logo) holding a laptop, smartphone or tablet showcasing the “Astro On-the-Go” logo at the most creative location of where you want to watch your favourite shows.
Where Do YOU Want Astro On-The-Go?
Astro wil form the longest advertisement in the world powered by YOU! The ad will grow featuring all your photo entries continuously from 23rd June to 31 August 2012. Find out more info during the pool party or, log on to wwww.astro.com.my/onthego from 23 June onwards for contest details!
To join the “Where Do YOU Want Astro On-The-Go?” contest all you need to do is follow the steps below :
- 1: Go to http://www.astroonthego.com/contest/enter and read the instructions based on the device you are using
- 2: Take your photo. Be creative! Tell the world where you want to watch your Astro On-The-Go! At the beach? At work when your boss isn’t looking? Look at the entry below as an example :
- “I want my Astro On-The-Go at the playground!”
- [insert attached picture]
- 3: Upload your photo and get your friends to vote! Then watch as your photo joins in building the longest ad in the nation!
The most creative entries stand to be rewarded.
Good luck, and see you guys at The Pool!
November 23, 2011
For the cooking competition fans, most of you is undoubtedly aware that MasterChef Malaysia is now in full swing on Astro in the following time slot:
For the uninitiated, MasterChef Malaysia is the reality cooking competition that was originally started in the UK and now found its way in dozens of countries. Participants in MasterChef are not professional chefs but everyday people who aspire to venture into culinary industry, or who just really enjoy cooking, people like you and me.
This is the first time we have MasterChef competition it in Malaysia
p/s: there was also a Bloggers’ Masterchef Challenge where I was involved as a judge *bow*
As of writing, there were only 19 contestants still vying to be the first ever MasterChef Malaysia.
There are several things to like in MasterChef Malaysia as compared to other cooking shows. First and foremost, of course, this contests involves everyday people who are just like you and me, and they are all local.
Secondly, you can also learn a lot from this show. Not only from the recipes that can be found on the website, but also some of the skills you can learn from the skills tests as well. The proper way to separate egg white from egg yolk, the way to dice onions, etc.
Finally, MasterChef exudes a very positive environment where learning is encouraged and there isn’t any showboating or stabbing at the back like you would find in many other reality show. There are even tasks where contestants have to work together in teams to get through to the next round.
To me, this is much better than those ME FIRST attitude that is found in other shows.
Chef Kenny and Chef Johari
My favorite chefs from MasterChef are Chef Kenny and Chef Johari. If you’re old enough, you might remember the Baba and Nyonya show (Big Bibik) on TV from eons ago where Chef Kenny was always in drag. I actually didn’t know that Chef Kenny is a chef until I watched the episod featuring him as a guest chef, what a surprise.
Chef Johari almost always encourages the contestants and basically the polar opposite of personalities like Simon from Ameirican Idol. I think with that’s going on in the world, we can have a little less nasties these days. Furthermore, Chef Johari is the most senior of all chef on the judges panel.
As for my favorite contestant, it’s gotta be Felix Tay, who shares the same home town with me – Penang!
I think the guy has got a really good shot at becoming the very first MasterChef Malaysia, and you can’t fault me for supporting a my own hometown boy who has shown flashes of skills in the MasterChef kitchen.
Which brings us to my favorite dish at MasterChef Malaysia thus far – Felix’s dish in the chili invention test. The judges all loved this dish, and what intrigued me in this dish is the ingredients used - guacamole sauce as the bed, fish, and plenty of chili. I’ve never had guacamole with something spicy before and this really looks interesting, don’t you think?
One moment that stood out at MasterChef Malaysia, for me, was the onion challenge in the first round. The situation was very similar to the same challenge that happened in the blogger’s masterchef challenge version – a lot of people accidentally cut their fingers, crying from cutting onions, and then of course, the very first few people who were eliminated at the end of the first episod.
Ultimately, what I want to see from MasteChef Malaysia is how the winner progresses in the culinary field here in Malaysia, will he/she open a restaurant? or have a cooking program on TV? changes entire career path?
And more importantly, will I be invited to have a taste of the winner’s cooking ultimately?
We can only wait, but in the mean time, MasterChef Malaysia is running a facebook contest starting on the 19th of November, 2011. Be sure to take part on https://apps.facebook.com/masterchefmy
There’s weekly prizes of RM 500 and 4GB MasterChef pendrive, and final prizes of iPad, induction cooker, cash, and more! Do check it out.
Good luck!
November 7, 2011
Over the first three weeks of October, I was involved in the Malaysia’s First Ever Blogger MasterChef Challenge, an event by Astro Ria to promote MasteChef Malaysia that is currently aired on Astro Ria channel 104.
For those who are in the dark all these while, MasterChef is a cooking reality show originally started in UK and now found its way to a few dozen countries, including Malaysia! The competition only allows amateur cooks to compete, the participants are everyday people who shares a passion for cooking.
You can catch MasterChef Malaysia on Astro Ria, the details as follow:
- MasterChef TX will be starting from 22nd October 2011, every Saturday – Wednesday, 9.00pm. Master Class will be on every Friday, 9.00pm.
The Blogger MasterChef event had 40 participants broken into 2 sessions, with the top 5 from each session compete at the final. Together with a professional chef (Chef Ryan Khang) and a representative from Astro Ria (Azlin Reza Azmi), yours truly was also chosen as one of the judges in this competition.
While the TV version has amateur cooks participating in it. Participants from this version are all bloggers.
GROUP 1 – 1/10/2011 – The Cooking House
The ingredients for the first 20 participants was chicken breast. Participants were given 2 slabs of chicken breast, a variety of ingredients, and condiments, a frying pan, and one hour to work with.
Other than the frying pan, there were also oven and microwave. There was no limit in the number of ingredients one can use either.
The above are just four of the 20 dishes, and to be honest I was very impressed. Many of these dishes not only tasted good, they look quite awesome too.
There were dishes with distinctive Malaysian taste, while others looked like something out of a high class restaurant. Chicken breast isn’t one of my favorite, but I took a few extra servings from some of these dishes.
Scoring on the invention test (the dish) was separated into 2 categories – maximum of 10 points for presentation, and another 10 for taste. For the skill test, Chef Ryan showed the contestants the proper way to make a poached egg (the instructions here), and another maximum of 10 points can be obtained.
This was my first stint as a judge in any competition, and short listing the top 5 from a group of 20 turned out to be a tougher job than I imagined, after tallying and some deliberation, we finally got it. It wasn’t an easy decision.
GROUP 2 – 8/10/2011 – The Cooking House
For the second group of 20 participants, instead of chicken breast, the main ingredient was fresh prawns.
While prawns are faster to cook and perhaps easier to season, the participants had to time their dish properly to ensure that the seafood does not stay on the table for too long before served.
Again, there were a lot of different creative ideas exhibited in this round. My particular favorites being the prawns lollipop on pineapple (pic above, bottom right corner) and the lemongrass prawn paste satay. Good stuff!
Raqim Ahmad from Astro Ria replaced Azlin as the judge in this round, after another poached egg skills test, we arrived at the final 5 contestants for the final round.
FINAL – 15/10/2011 – SACC Mall, Shah Alam
The final for the First Ever Blogger MasterChef was a much bigger deal, the venue was at the entrance of SACC Mall in Shah Alam. A stage was set up with 2 rows of temporary “kitchen” prepared for our 10 short listed contestants, and there was also the famous host, Zainal Alam Kadir from Astro emceeing for the event.
I think the invention challenge of the day threw a lot of contestants off a little, the content of the Mystery Box was none other than the one ingredient most of us had never handled before – Avocado.
Personally I’ve only had avocado in sushi and in Carl’s Junior’s burger (guacamole sauce). If I was competing, I’d probably had to google for a recipe (cheating already, hahaha)
The format of the competition was also slightly different, while there were many different condiments and secondary ingredients to choose from in the first two rounds, there were only 20 different ingredients/condiments in which each contestants was only allowed to choose 10 items within 30 seconds.
The limitation though, brought the best out of the participants.
Check out some of the dishes that the contestants managed to conjure up with. On the top left we have something that looks like a salad but with pancake ribbon (ultimately the winning dish), on the top right there’s the avocado “sushi” using egg as the skin and bread as the “rice”. It was another exhibition of creativity and cooking skills.
For the skill test, Chef Kerlley (replacing Chef Ryan) demonstrated a professional way to dice onion, and the contestants were given 15 onions each to see how many they could dice up in 10 minutes. At the end, no one managed to dice more than 3-4 onions, and 6 of the 10 contestants somehow managed to cut their fingers with the supplied ceramic knife.
I suppose this is to show that these are all amateur cooks, no?
After some deliberation and tallying up the score, Yip Wan Yee was crowned the winner of the First Ever Blogger MasterChef Challenge, and she deserved it! To me her dish was not only creative, but nicely presented and tasted rather good too.
Wawa was the first runner up with her Mini Roti Puri filled with Avocado Custard on top of Creme Patissiere and top with Chocolate Ganache, not because of the longest dish name but for her daring attempt in the only pastry dish of the day, and it worked.
Mohd Zaid walked away with the best MasterChef Buzz blogger award, while the rest of the contestants received consolation prizes.
It was a pretty sweet competition, and really showcase the ability of so many young Malaysians’ cooking prowess. Now let me get back to the kitchen!
