Reimagining Energy

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Referring back to my previous post HERE on how different everyone interprets the celebration of Chinese New year, I've decided to try my luck and send a recent photo I took at my grandmother's place on the first day of Chinese New year to the Petronas CNY photography contest !!! It's actually really simple to enter the competition if you are a photography enthusiast and have taken many pictures of the CNY festivities:)

Simply click on this LINK and follow the instructions........

Below is ONE of the pictures(Yea, I submitted two because I'm allowed to,!! So kill me for being kiasu :p) I've submitted and I named it "Cooking on the first day of CNY"!!

Now, you are probably wondering why this picture out of many which I've probably taken right? And then I recalled something my auntie said about how, for many "Chinese New Year" is a holiday but for the older generation, they are the ones working and basically cooking up a storm especially on the first day of Chinese New Year as we will be eating vegetarian food!! And the best part is that they are actually happy doing it, cooking for the whole family because they love the camaraderie in the house...

My grandmother made all the food on this table and more!! Crazy right?!? She was still chatty and talking to all of us after..That's the beauty of it!! The theme "Reimagining Energy" which emphasises and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit to excel in whatever we do is shown in both my grandmothers in their never-ending love to show us the right customary traditions, and going the distance in providing us excellent food on the first and second day of Chinese New Year.Plus, they come out of the kitchen smiling and ready to eat with us :)

 In the end, it's how you interpret and understand the term of Reimagining Energy during Chinese New Year.... 

 Like Petronas and four different versions of their commercials, they interpreted "Reimagining Energy" as the spirit of resilience, energy to see opportunity, energy to go on, improve and move on while staying true to our values !! Check out their commercials which symbolizes their interpretation of it..

The Malaysian version

 

The England Version

 

The Indian Version

The China Version

Enjoy the commercials and good luck if you are joining the competition!! Winner gets 

Prizes: 

1st Prize: 1 x RM 2,000

2nd Prize: 1 x RM1,000

Consolation Prizes: 5 x RM500

 

And...there are daily consolation prizes of RM288 to be won!! Huat Huat ah!!!

xoxo
Meiz

What CELEBRATING Chinese New Year means?

 What is celebrating Chinese New Year to all of you? 

For many, when people think Chinese New Year, they instantly think.....

 

  "Kam" or gold in chinese, even cute Cady knows how to grab oranges

For others....it could be...

 

 

 Wearing red?

For many Malaysians, glorious food such as cookies, soft drinks, and Bak kwa is a MUST!

 

 

 

 Delicious vegetarian food on the first day!!!

 

 After the first day, it's all types of food allowed already!! Even satay baby!!!

For children and the young adults... alot of them look forward to..

 The red packets...Ang Pow!

Even for the mischievous ones... they think celebrating must entail...

 

 Fireworks!!

 

 Gambling

There are some families who treat Chinese New year as a must for a

 Holiday!

For me, it's actually ALL of the above(not so much the gambling or holiday) but definitely the FOOD! Many people put on tons of weight over the Chinese New Year holidays. Most importantly though, it' spending all of what I've mentioned above with my relatives and friends... It's a meeting ground for everyone to come together and celebrate all the customary traditions. Although each of us may interpret "celebrating' differently, we will always be together when doing one or all of it right?

 

 

 

 

 With my cousins, grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles...You have not even seen my extended family YET!

 

 

 

With some of my close friends from all over!!

 Last but not least, all those older have shared their traditions with us all the way from China. Passed down from generations to generations... For us younger generations, what we can do is preserve it, and share it with the little ones......

 

Am I right about the above? Do you guys celebrate the same way too???

Gong Xi Fa Cai! May all of you have a prosperous, happy, lucky and successful year ahead!!!

xoxo

Meiz

Flash Mob in KLIA?

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Flash mob is the new trend of performances around the world and now Malaysia..... There has been one happening at the most random of places such as Pavillion, Taylor's College Subang Jaya and many more!!!!!

As an avid fan of dancing, I personally think it's pretty cool breaking out a dance move or too regardless of who is watching but imagine, when everyone else does it too!!!!!

The latest flash mob that caught media attention was the Malaysia Airlines Flash Mob that happened at our international airport, KLIA with 200 over dancers and MAS staff!

It happened as "passenger" were walking out from the departure gate. Someone started singing while another person played the guitar and some of the passer-bys also broke into a dance. Many on-lookers waiting for relatives and friends as well as tourists were pleasantly surprised.

The flash mob lasted for a whole 8 minutes with popular songs from each race, from english, to malay, to indian, chinese,etc. The last song was actually performed by MAS crew which gave it a really authentic vibe.

What would have made the flash mob more fun was if the crowd actually joined in to perform with the dancers teaching them...don't you think? It would then be more interactive.......After I watched the video, I was caught off guard because I never thought flash mobs were so small in size, I always expected more...misperception I guess:p

All in all, it was definitely a good effort from Malaysia Airlines in start the new year off trendier and attention grabbing with now close to 700,000 views on Youtube!!!

Just wondering guys...what did you think of the whole idea of Flash mobbing? and how would you expect it to be like?

xoxo

Meiz

Coming Home for CNY

 When you are overseas, be it studying or working, the time that you will feel the most "homesick" is actually during festive occasions like Chinese New Year for many Chinese around the world. Nearing Chinese New Year, my mom would start asking me "What are you doing for Chinese New Year?"

All I can answer when I am away is "Go chinatown?" or perhaps have dinner with friends WITHOUT my favorite dish Yee Sang! That already doesn't make it feel like Chinese New Year! Being home in Malaysia, I can feel the camaraderie and energy of many Chinese people by the decorations in malls, buzzing of Chinese New Year songs all over the place, the crazy traffic jams at malls, and endless amounts of reunion dinners! This time around, I am glad to be a part of the festivities in Malaysia with family and friends because home for me, is where the heart is!

I would say that Petronas actually had the same idea when creating their new CNY commercial, which everyone always waits for..... The launch itself was very ceremonial and traditional with..

An amazing lion dance and the whole troupe

Petronas Twin Tower will always be a sight to behold

 

With the Senior General Manager of Group Corporate Affairs Division Dato Mohammad Medan Abdullah and company

A special preview was held on the 17th of January with the launch of a new campaign

Before I go into the details of the campaign which all of you can be a part of, check out the long-awaited CNY commercial for 2012!!

And that's what it's all about...the gist of the commercial basically revolves around a dentist posted to a rural part of India celebrating the New Year with his family in his home country via Skype, a little boy in China having a simple dinner with his family, and a young girl in London working two jobs to earn a living and yet still able to “celebrate” Chinese New Year with her extended family – her customers.

The essence of the TVC lies in the struggle that each individual goes through in life – be it working two jobs, or having to be the head of the family at a young age, as in the case of the little boy in China. This commercial is basically a powerful universal message that transcends cultural, generational, creed and ethnicity barriers.

 Along with the launch of the campaign, Petronas is organising a photography contest themed "Reimagining Emergy" in collaboration with Leica Camera AG. All you have to do is capture your best Chinese New Year moments or what it means to you and submit it to the Petronas Facebook page HERE and stand a chance to win great prizes! 

Like the commercial, it's how you choose to celebrate and be close to the people you love during Chinese New Year. As a friend told me, him and his family always travel  on Chinese New Year and it has become a yearly tradition with over 20+ of them boarding a plane out of the country but most importantly, celebrating together!

Don't forget your roots alright guys, especially those who are overseas?!?I'm sure your loved ones(PARENTS) want to hear from you... I will be celebrating with my family this year, having the usual vegetarian cuisine in the morning at my father and mother's side of the house and a crazy round of visiting to my extended family's houses(but I can't visit this year because my grandpa passed away in August last year T.T)....possibly have a gathering with friends as well and go for a short trip.....

What about you? Do share your traditions with all of us, the quirky ones especially!!!!

Gong Hei Fatt Choy
Meiz 

Redesigning the Johnnie Walker Black Label Bottle?

We all know that many people like to party AT Johnnie Walker events and actually party WITH Johnnie Walker drinks at clubs and parties too!! For those fans out there, Johnnie Walker is making it more exciting this year with their latest campaign to allow fans to redesign their iconic Johnnie Walker Black Label bottle!!!!

Not only will you get to take part in a competition to redesign the bottle, the winner will get an all expense paid trip with three friends to the house of Johnnie Walker in Shanghai. Other lucky fans will also receive their own hand-crafted limited edition bottles featuring the final designs and invitations to the exclusive launch party.

Spear-heading the campaign is a renown designer Mark Ong who is famous for his customized sneakers. Now, fans get to work with him to craft each bottle resulting in an exciting new bottle design!!

Mark Ong's customized design for Nike

Besides that, JW Malaysia has invites four individuals to be a part of the campaign with them designing their own bottle which reflects their life's passion and work...check some of their designs out!! pretty cool stuff!

 

 Reshmonu and his mike inspired bottle

 

 Winnie Loo, the founder of A Cut Above

 

 Naturally, her bottle would have elements of hair

 

 A blinged up bottle by...

 

 Hannah Tan

 

 Kenji Chai a.k.a Black Fryday, an emerging graffiti artist also designed his own bottle

 

So, who's going to take part in this exciting new campaign? Imagine your design being the winning one?!? Changing the old look above to a brand new one!!

The project kickstarts on January 18th and ends on February 8th. Find out more information on their page HERE

Good luck to the all budding designers and Johnnie Walker fans!!

xoxo

Meiz