Music : Introducing 韋禮安

I bet Sentinel J is gonna say.. "oh no, not another fan girl post.." hahaha.. Yup Yup.. Here comes just another post by Sentinel E being a terrifically out-of-sane fan girl. Well, for sure, out-of-sane is just another usual metabolic expression of mine, i am still having my sanity with me of course. In fact, I am very logical and rational when it comes to audio or visual preferences. Everyone could have their favourite but remember do not bash others just for the fun of it. It shows immaturity likewise, it is an unforgivable childish act. Back to the topic :

If you do listen to chinese music, you might have come across this name, 韋禮安 (Wei Li An). How did i get to know him? Very simple. From his first plugged single from his debut album named 有没有. 

"Turn off the radio Turn off the lights you know
聽見了誰的痛在空氣中 不斷跳動又那麼沈重"

The starting of this song is very captivating, mesmerizing, charming and a lot more description can be used to describe how i was addicted to it. Like it is some soul sucking epilogue to a story. The jazzy feel and soul-ish vocal reminds me of Khalil Fong. This song was back in the year 2010, the year when I think I was crazy over Khalil Fong. He intruded but not for long of course. I did not do much research about him after that. I put a period to him. 

Then comes the Golden Melody Award of that year where Jay Chou was nominated lots again and 韋禮安 was also nominated for a few important awards such as "Best Composition", "Best Newcomer" and surprisingly "Best Male Vocal Performer" alongside with Jay Chou, JJ Lin, Lee Hom and Chyi Chin. At the end, he only manage "Best Newcomer of the Year" award losing to Jay Chou in "Best Male Vocal Performer". There is nothing to be sad about. After all, he was only a newbie in the showbiz. After that. he disappear again. No news about him.No new songs from him that I heard of. 

Then time passes till I watched "我可能不会爱你“ (In time with you), now now, the opening theme is so soothing and the voice is so familiar. I have heard of him of course. Yup, there is 韋禮安 with “还是会”. With the story line being so amazing and the other songs and this theme song that fits so well, the whole drama turn out to be the "it" thing of my semester break. I remember staying up till 4 to 5 just to finish off a few episodes throughout the night. Yet after the drama, he is bygone again. Then time flies again till I saw him in "百万大歌星”. It is the second last episode of this variety show. He was in it along with 梁静茹 and 林宥嘉. His performance was amazing. Starting with 林宥嘉's 想自由.His version is truly different, something more 韋禮安 and more conscious. Just hard to describe. Then it comes to Jay Chou's 雙截棍, another impressive rendition. Just sit back and watch that episode, you will be truly impressed by this guy. And so, I started to research about him. 

He started off actually from a singing competition known as "Happy Sunday". He was actually famous way earlier than those from 星光大道 yet he decided to stay low and finish off his studies first before debuting. There he waited for almost two years right after winning the competition to release an EP then only a debut studio album. He then continued releasing a Live CD from his concert in which he sang lots of songs that is not so him but very very audible. Then shot a movie which I consider pretty lame (well everyone has weird task something).  He disappears again. This time is to fulfil his military service for 14 months. Then in August 2012, his brand new second album is fnally released. I personally think this album is his best yet. I like it better than his debut album. Lots of songs in the album is very appealing. His vocal has improved of course. There is more flow to the album. 

Albums released by  韋禮安
from left :
1. 慢慢等 EP
2. 首張同名全創作專輯
3. 两角书橱的逃亡演唱会 Live Disc
4, 有人在等 

Other songs that is worth listening 

Misc: The WALK across the bridge...

Penang Bridge Marathon is the once in a year event that is not to be missed by every single soul who loves participating in marathon. Yea it is for those who loves marathon but both the sentinel here does not fulfill this criteria (at least for now, I am making an effort to participate in real marathons..Yea working on it seriously "hard" *blushes*), yet we literally ran across the bridge on that very day! 18th November 2012. The big day. hahaha...

We woke up early that day but left the house rather late actually. By the time when we reach the venue, the whole area is already congested with cars and human. As we only participate in the fun run, our event is the latest to start. Sharp when the clock ticks 7 in the morning, the run officially started and like an usual "run", it will be difficult to run at the starting of the run as too many people will be crowded at the starting point. While all the other participants started to run, Sentinel J and Sentinel E still keeps up to their walking pace. Well, sad to say, in the actual fact, Sentinel J is forced to walk along with me as I am really too old to run. Therefore, the whole 10km run was a walk. I promised I ll behave next time, k Sentinel J! I will RUN!! haha..

I think pictures can do rather better explaination than my blunt words. =)

Dessert: Chinese Steam Cake (Huat Kuih) Recipe

Traditional "Kuih" have always been the ultimate choice to most of Malaysians during tea time. What we are introducing today, however, is mostly used by chinese during praying ceremony. This kuih takes a rather long period of time to be ready. Why is it so? Take a tour thru the making of this kuih.

Ingredient:
400gm Sugar
500gm Rice Flour (Erawan brand is recommended)
250ml Tuak (Fermented rice, yeast and sugar)
750ml Coconut water
Red Colouring


Method:
1. Mix the sugar and rice flour into the mixing bowl.

2. Pour in the Tuak and coconut water. Make sure that the Tuak and coconut water is sieved properly. Mix all the ingredients until well-blended.
For best result, pour in the Tuak. Mix them together first. Then, pour in the coconut water and mix again.

3. Now add in the colouring and stir it till well-coloured.

4. Here comes the long procedure of this recipe. Place the batter under the sun for approximately 6 hours.

5. Then, we can start steaming the batter in the mould under boiling water for 30 mins.

And so, the Huat Kuih can be served whether hot or cold.

Dessert : Steam Marble Cake Recipes

Love eating cakes but all you can do is always buy it as there is no oven at home? No worries.. you can always make cakes with other method. What are they? One that I have tried today is the steaming method. Yes, you heard it right.

Steam Marble Cake.

Of course, this recipe is sort of different from the one commercially found but trust me, it taste just as good as the one you buy outside.It's really easy. Get the ingredients ready now.

Ingredients:
270g butter (Planta is used since there is a lot left from the previous semester)
225g sugar (Icing sugar is used since we hand-mix all the ingredients, icing sugar is easier to handle)
4 eggs
300g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon Oligo powder (Milo or any other cocoa powder can be used such as Van Houten)

Method:
1. Pour butter and sugar into the mixing bowl. Beat the ingredient until fluffy

2.  Slowly add in the eggs one by one and beat until smooth and pale yellow

3. Add in the flour and baking powder and mix it until well-blended.

4. Now, take about 4 tablespoon of the batter(mixture) and mix it with the Oligo powder.

5. Grease the mould with oil or butter and then pour the batter into the mould. Slowly, pour in the batter with Oligo mixture. Take a chopstick and start dragging the Oligo mixture back and forth creating a spontaneous design.

6. Boil water in the wok and place the mould on top of the steaming tray. Steam for approximately 1 hours.
(However, while making this cake, my stove ran out of gas, the cake was only steamed for about 45 mins and left covered for another 15 mins. Luckily, the cake still turn out delicious.)

Finally, the cake is ready to served.

Jay Chou J Moment DVD : Sequel to THE ERA and [ ! ]

After the 11th studio album, Exclamation Mark [ ! ], Jay Chou follows the tradition of his previous works with the release of a 2-DVDs set album compiling all the visual efforts (music videos) of the corresponding studio album for the collection of all the die-hard fans.

This album contains 2 DVD that includes 20 MVs and 17 behind-the-scenes videos for two albums which are The Era [跨時代] and Exclamation Mark [惊叹号]. This DVD also contains the newly-plugged and released MV of 琴傷 which is highly anticipated. Wait no more now.. GRAB one from the nearby music store.  

Jay Chou's MVs have always been the things that I anticipate most during his album's promotion period. Every plugged MVs displays the creativity of his music crew that is always impressive and entertaining. Not a fan of Jay Chou? Trust me, you will be one once you get to know his MVs. That was totally how I fall into the trap of his mystical music world. 

Jay Chou always the music to soothe the ear. 

琴傷

琴傷花絮

Snack: Fried Wantan (Dumpling) Recipe

Ever dread about eating fried wantan in the middle of the night? hehe.. I definitely have this sort of weird craving. YES.. what a weirdo. Anyway, few days back, Sentinel J and Sentinel E decided to give this favourite dish of my a try. Needless to say, this dish is not hard actually. Just get the ingredients and dumpling skin and TADAAA... Fried Wantan is read to be served. 

 Fried Wantan (from left: Chicken Fillings, Pork Fillings) 

Ingredient :
Boneless Chicken (Chicken Breast preferred)/ Boneless Pork Meat
10-13 Medium Sized Shrimps
1 1/2 Tablespoon Tapioca Starch (Tepung Ubi Kayu)   
1/2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Pepper
1 Packet of Dumpling Skin
Finely Sliced Carrots (amount is up to you)[increase the sweetness of the fillings]
* You may also add two to three water chestnut (chopped to small cubes) to add crunchiness to the wantan. 

Method:
1. Minced the boneless chicken or the pork meat. You may also buy the one which is minced by the butcher already but me mum always says it is best to minced the meat yourself. 
2. Add the shrimp and minced it together with the chicken meat.
3. Add in the seasoning (soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper) together with the tapioca starch. Mix all the added ingredient well. Add in the sliced carrot. If you are interested in adding water chestnut, you can add it in this step.

Fillings of the wantan

4. Now the fillings of the wantan is done. We shall proceed with the wrapping of the filling into the dumpling skin. You may wrap the wantan into whatever style that you like.

Wrapping the fillings in the wantan skin

5. Now heat up the oil in the wok. Slowly put the wantan into the oil and fry it till golden brown.
* You can also boil the wantan or cook it in soup.

Frying the wantan

Fried Wantan of the Day 

<3

ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT Manny, Diego & Sid: The trio that we all missed.....

The long awaited ICE AGE 4: Continental Drift is soon to be on air. This sequel once again tells the adventure of our favourite trio: Manny, Diego and Sid in the ice age era. Since 2002, the series of the movie released in the past [ICE AGE, ICE AGE 2: The Meltdown, ICE AGE 3: Dawn of the dinosaurs] have been receiving positive reviews and were box office success. This is to say the latest sequal Continental Drift is expected to follow suite and provide us with equal excitement and anticipation as the previous three installments.

Wanna have the sneak peak of the encounters of Manny, Diego and Sid? Just view it from the link below.
ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (Sneak Peak)

How is it now?
Gonna be the first on the queue to the ticket booth during premiere?
Make sure you set this historical date of your ICE AGE date on your smartphones or tablets's calendar correctly.

JULY 12, 2012

HTC Mozart : A Surprise Gift!

Last year, Digi have a special campaign that requires user to share and recommend Opera Mini to other Digi users. There are total of 60 units of HTC Mozart to be given out to the top participants. Luckily i am one of them. :) Thank you, Digi.

I would like to share some of my experiences in using this phone.
This phone runs on Window Phone 7.0  upgraded to 7.5 later. During 7.0, this phone is really inconvenient because it does not come along with Chinese Input, but this problem is solved when upgraded to 7.5.

This phone with 1Ghz Processor and 576MB of RAM that delivers smooth user experiences. What's cool in this phone is it came with uni-Body: That mean the casing is in one piece.

Furthermore, the camera, 8 Megapixel with Xenon flash allows me to capture clear image during dim light/dark places. It can render maximum video capture at 720P.

The connector of this phone is 3.5 mm stereo audio jack Standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0). The stereo jack can stand alone without the build-in mic during calls, how is it so? The phone mic, of course. While transfer doc, audio, video need to use Zune® software.

This HTC phone obviously come along with the HTC Hub: Weather, Stocks, Converter, Photo Enhancer, Sound Enhancer, and more.

Like others smart phone, it also have Wi-fi connectivity, Sensor, Internal GPS antenna, Bluetooth.

Overall this phone is good. it's FREE :)

*Bad*
The touch screen of this phone sometime does not work well, i need to lock the phone and unlock again.

FROM HTC PAGE

The Vampire Diaries Season 3 : Whereabouts of Family Bond and Love Affairs

The Vampire Diaries Season 3 finale is due on Thursday night, 10th of May 2012 (Oh well it's Friday morning for Malaysia). What is more to expect in this upcoming episode since Klaus is now heart-freeze, Mystic Fall is now original-free, Alaric is still the maniac killer running wild, the whole council now knows that both Caroline and Tyler's inhuman form (a vampire and a hybrid). From the summary of http://www.cwtv.com, it seems like we are supposed to expect more nostalgic event