Going to Video Games Live, Kuala Lumpur!

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Video Games Live LogoI’m going to Video Games Live!

But what is it?

Oh, this! Video Games Liveâ„¢ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time.  Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience! – From the official site: http://www.videogameslive.com/

So that means it’s a video game concert playing some of the best music from the best games in the history of video gaming. I’ll be going to Kuala Lumpur for the 2:30 PM concert at KLCC on April 17th with Jimmy Thong Tran.

It’s basically a $300 concert for me when you include the flight ($150 through Air Asia), tickets, hotel, and food. I guess that’s why it’s good to be anti-social/lonely like me- spend less money on seeing friends, going clubbing, and drinking beers, and go spend all the money saved on video game concerts. Nerd.

But at least we’re in the first row! (see below)

Seating Chart

The tickets weren’t so bad. Those best-in-the-house (hopefully) seats were $75 USD, which is quite good.

This will be cool to go to I think. This concert series started in the Bay Area (where I’m from) about 5 years ago and has grown in popularity, adding more cities and events each year. Since I have no idea if and when I’ll return to the US or have an opportunity to go see this, this was the time to go. Plus, Jimmy and I will be in KL all weekend, so we’ll cruise round, doing whatever. I have this Banana Leaf Rice Place in Bangsar in mind that I’d like to go to for lunch.

I don’t know what to expect, but I think that’s a good thing. I’m hoping they’ll let cameras in, and I hope there’s cool stuff surrounding the event- some arcades, some cos-playing, maybe sales of video-game toys/posters/etc. I have no idea if that’s possible since the Symphony at KLCC is part of the Petronas towers and not in its own building, so not sure about the space available. I’m definitely down to buy random crap though.

Some of my wish list items for the actual concert would be to hear stuff from Halo, Donkey Kong Country (I never played much of the game, but I do like the soundtrack), Super Mario World, Sonic, and Street Fighter 2. The event is still a month away, but I’ll write about it and post pictures once I go!

If you’d like to go and purchase tickets, try TicketPro: https://shop.ticketpro.com.my/en/Event/Detail/697/video-games-live

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19.03.2010 Music, Travel, Video Games No Comments

Hacks to Avoid Jetlag (USA to Vietnam)

Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Jetlag

Image by miss_rogue via Flickr

I’m back in Vietnam, and it’s time for my follow-up to my article, Hacks to Avoid Jetlag (Vietnam to the USA)

This was my sixth time doing this, and I’ve always felt that going from the US to Vietnam is much easier than coming back to the US.

I always take the Vietnam Airlines flight which lands in Vietnam between 9 and 11:30 AM (depends if you are landing in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City), so the key here is staying up all day until you can sleep at normal hours.

To stay up, you have to stay active. If you just sit around or watch a movie, you are toast. But if you can get to work (outside of home), talk to people, you can keep yourself up. It also helps to be outside because the sunlight can help your body rethink trying to sleep.

Day 1: I got into HCM this time around 10:30 AM, or 7:30 PST in California. If I could stay up to 9 PM, it would be 6AM in California. Tough. But got home, unpacked my stuff, went to office in the early afternoon, had dinner out, got back home, and it was 9:30/10 before I finally went to bed. Woke up at 5:30 AM. Not bad for my first day.

From here, it was just a question of maintaining:

Day 2: Slept around 8:30, woke up at 2:30 AM. This wasn’t so good, not because I woke up so early, but because I didn’t get 8 hrs of sleep. I tried to sleep again around 6 or so, but it didn’t happen, so I knew I was in for a tough day. Somehow, I ended up being ok the entire day, and slept at 8:30 again.

Day 3: After sleeping at 8:30, I woke up at 3:30. Took a nap from 9 to 12 AM, and was good for the rest of the day.

Day 4: Slept at 10 this time after coming home from basketball. Woke up at 6:30.

Day 5: Slept at 10 again, woke up at 4:30. Don’t think this is due to jet lag, I seem to have crazy dreams every night. Decided to stay up and do some stuff.

It doesn’t matter so much to me when I wake up, as long as I can stay up and sleep on time, stay in good patterns. In fact, I hope I can stick to sleeping at 10 AM each night.

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14.01.2010 Travel No Comments

Bay Area Tales

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
San Francisco Bay Area highlighted in red on a...

Image via Wikipedia

I’m in the Taipei airport right now, waiting to board my flight back to Vietnam. A recap of my two and half weeks of California, USA fun:

  • Adventures:
    • Six Flags Magic Mountain on New Years Eve – X2 is still a fantastic ride, even if only for the first 15 seconds, but Batman and Goliath were closed
    • 49ers vs Lions, lower deck seats – 49ers win!
    • Warriors vs Suns – Warriors win!
    • Warriors vs Celics – Warriors win!
    • Sherlock Homes – might enjoy it more if I saw it again as I fell asleep towards the end (that only happens when I see movies soon after my returns from Vietnam, gave it 6/10)
    • Up in the Air – a movie that reminds me why I have to continue working; I can’t let someone fire me (gave it 8/10)
    • Star Trek Exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose – interesting, but way overpriced
    • Saw UFC 108 at M Cafe with Kyle, Tay, Midland, and Mike – great setup, a ton of TVs
  • Food:
    • KFC – The new grilled chicken is pretty good; it definitely has that picnic chicken taste to it. Great to have biscuits again…yummy, biscuits
    • Albertsons/Lucky’s Fried Chicken – traditionally my favorite fried chicken for taste and value, it didn’t hold up this time around.
    • SmokeEaters – formerly Cluck-u near Santa Clara University, had good wings and fries one of my first nights back meeting up with Andrew
    • Fiesta Del Mar – Mexican food! bBurrito during lunch with Kyle
    • Fenton’s Creamery & Restaurant -  this is the famous ice cream place mentioned in Pixar’s movie Up. Had my favorite, cookies n’ cream in a cone.
    • McDonalds – McChicken, fries
    • In-N-Out – cheeseburger and fries, and then a double double with fries. Both times were subpar for me. I’m a bit worried about their quality, and maybe it’s just in my head, but after reading In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perlman, I am very, very concerned about their future.
    • El Pollo Loco – chicken and CHURROS! (best ever)
    • Costco – chicken warp (not as good as some would have me believe) and churro (not as good as El Pollo)
    • Harris Ranch – ordered ribs after heading home on I-5 with Mike on the Magic Mountain trip. Fries and Ribs were good, as they should have been for a $30 meal.
    • Mountain Mike’s – had pizza there while watching Cal lose their bowl game. Substandard, a bit dry, maybe a bit hurried. Wasn’t cheap either, I think it was near $20 for a medium.
    • Thai Pepper – my pad thai wasn’t so great, but maybe other items are better there.
  • Other:
    • Tried out Redbox to rent movies – $1/night’s a great value and very convenient. Probably not coincidentally, Blockbuster is closing a ton of brick and mortar stores, including one in downtown San Jose. How can they compete with Netflix and Redbox?
    • Used Yelp to research places to eat and go – my sister remarked, it feels like it’s early success came from Asian popularity, where you can feel that much of the writing comes from Asians
    • Tried out dad’s GPS tracker on the Magic Mountain trip. GPS is brilliant! Almost makes me want to move back to the US just to go on trips and have GPS lead the way.
    • Did some work. Poop.
    • Had light basketball workouts 7 times over the 2.5 weeks. Hopefully, I’ll be better for the mean courts of Vietnam (no joke, it’s tough out there)
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06.01.2010 Food, Sports, Travel 4 Comments

Star Trek Exhibition at the Tech Museum San Jose [Review]

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Star Trek ExhibitOne of the first things I did after coming back to the US was go to the Star Trek Exhibition at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. Here’s the official information:

STAR TREK: THE EXHIBITION – the world’s most comprehensive collection of authentic Star Trek objects – features over 200 artifacts including:

  • An authentic replica of the bridge from the U.S.S Enterprise NCC-1701 as featured in the original Star Trek television series
  • Iconic gadgets from the Star Trek universe: a tricorder; a phaser, and a communicator – all from the original series. Devices that have inspired innovators of today.
  • The actual shooting model for the Borg Cube, as seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager and in the movie Star Trek: First Contact
  • A chance to ride through a Star Trek adventure in a full-motion flight simulator (extra fee)

Sounds good right?

Unfortunately, I left disappointed. Even Mike, who is a much bigger Star Trek fan than me, wasn’t too happy with it.

  • I think the biggest negative to the exhibition is its price, $25 per person. That is a lot for a museum.
  • While it does have a lot of the gadgets and a ship bridge and the transporter, you’re not allowed to take photos anywhere. My sister snuck one in (above), but the security told her to stop. They offer a service to take photos at the bridge and the transporter for you, but those cost $28 EACH. To me, if you’re paying $25 per person, one picture should be free. I really wanted to buy a photo, but $28! I would have done it for $10.
  • It’s supposedly a 2 hr exhibit, but that’s only if you read everything. Carefully. It took us 45 minutes max, but maybe more like 30 minutes. 15,000 square feet for an exhibit is not as much as you would think when it’s mostly used for free roaming space.
  • There is not as much stuff as you would think.
  • I wanted to go on the flight simulator, but after seeing how much the pictures cost, I got disheartened.
  • The $25 per person does include the normal Tech Museum stuff, but after you do the Trek stuff, you so thoroughly feel like you were ripped off, you just want to go.
  • The gift shop is a great way to get people to buy stuff, but they were charging $40 for the normal bare bones edition of the DVD. You can imagine what other things might cost. My sister ended up buying a $3 can of Vulcan Ale (energy drink), but that’s it.

The price of having just one memoir (28 + 25 = $53) to remember the day was enough to make me not recommend this to others.

Star Trek Tech Museum

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23.12.2009 Movies, Reviews, Travel No Comments

Hacks to Avoid Jetlag (Vietnam to the USA)

Monday, December 21st, 2009
jet lag

Image by Loving Earth via Flickr

So, I’m back in the US on vacation. One of the big things I hear about for people traveling between Vietnam and the USA is the jetlag. The first time I came back from Vietnam, when I was 13, I would sleep at noon for a week before I got back to normal. I can’t really afford to do that now, so time for shortcuts!

It’s a 15 hour difference if you’re flying to the west coast, a 12 hour difference to the east coast, so I always like to think of living in Vietnam as living in the future. Case in point, I saw Avatar at Megastar at Hung Vuong, Q5 in Saigon last Friday, basically before it opened in the US.

But back to jet lag, there are some easy body hacks you can do to et yourself back to normal as quickly as possible.

An example, me on this most recent trip:

  1. Day 0: I flew on a 5PM flight from Vietnam that arrived in California at 5:30 PM, with a stop in Taipei. Some flights get you to the US in mid-day, I’m only used to the the VN/China Airlines schedule. On this flight, however, you want to sleep as little as possible. This past weekend, I slept 3-4 hours total. Why? You want to be tired and able to sleep when you arrive in US. I got in to the US at 5:30, got home around 7:30. I had some dinner, and by 10:30 I was tired enough to go to sleep.
  2. Day 1: I woke up at 4:30 AM, almost 6 hrs of sleep. If you keep in mind I slept the previous night at 10:30 PM (1:30 PM in Vietnam), and now woke up at 4:30 AM (7:30 PM in VN), I’m making really good progress in resetting my body clock. It’s hard to last a full day without getting tired, so it’s not the best day to go partying. I avoid booze and do anything too exerting. I also took a one hour nap around 2PM to make sure I can last through the night. I end up sleeping around 11 PM this night.
  3. Day 2: I woke up at 7:30 (basically a full 8 hr sleep) AM. I’m BACK! The key now is take a very short nap (if you do a 2-3 hr nap, you’ll definitely screw yourself up) if you need it, and just exert yourself normally throughout the day. In previous trips, I always take it light the first few days, so as not to risk sleeping too early or too late that might make my body remember its Vietnam timing.
  4. Day 3: Messed up here. Got super sleepy (easy to when you’re just hanging out at home), so took a short nap around 4 (about an hr). After dinner, started sleeping again in my sister’s room around 7. Woke up at 1. Did some stuff, took a 1 hr nap at 6AM. Now, the key will be staying up and sleeping at normal (10PM or later) time…..
  5. Day 4: Woke up at 4:45 after sleeping around 10:30 or 11 PM. I get super tired during the afternoons, but still getting there…slowly.
  6. Day 5: Slept before 10, I think, woke up around 7. Feeling good, but do keep sneezing all the time. Brrr, it’s cold out here. I’m a tropical boy now.

I’ll write another article in a couple of weeks with how I go from the USA to Vietnam.

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21.12.2009 Travel No Comments

Habitat Hostel (Singapore) [Review]

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

During my F1 weekend in Singapore, I stayed in a hostel for the first time, Habitat Hostel in Singapore (http://www.habitat-hostels.com.sg/). Habitat is well located near the Somerset MRT exit (which is near Orchard and all the main downtown stops- in fact you can walk to anywhere downtown within an hour).

My stay was about $62 USD per night, (booked through http://www.hostels.com/) which at first glance is really expensive for a hostel. But when you consider two things, 1) It was F1 weekend 2) Singapore is expensive for housing- the cheapest hotel for F1 weekend was about double the price, and that was when I had checked prices over a month before the actual weekend, it was not such a bad cost. At the same time, there are cheaper hostels in Singapore, and the costs don’t work out so well if you’re going with multiple people.

Not an issue for me, however, as I went alone.

Habitat Hostel bills itself at a boutique hostel, and that’s what made me try it out. I don’t feel like I’m really a backpacker type guy, and was always afraid I’d be uncomfortable at a hostel, but this sounded like a good middle ground for a first timer.

I really enjoyed my stay. Yes, I was only there to sleep basically, but the double/queen sized beds were really comfortable, and overall the atmosphere is quiet. There’s breakfast available any time in the kitchen, and there’s always a comfort of cleanliness everywhere in the house (in fact, you’re asked to take off your shoes before you walk in).

The staff is really nice (and remember your name) and understanding, and the people I stayed with were pretty cool too. No one was a jackass or anything. From their website, even for a person who had never stayed in a hostel, it sounded like they really paid attention to the details of creating a good experience, and after staying there, I can say it’s basically all true.

A very nice place I would certainly recommend assuming the price is within your means, and something that will open my mind to other hostels in the future.

Going through their website again for this review, I completely forgot they had a movie room (wasn’t shown to me while I was there)!

Their official description and some pictures I took below: (to see more photos, see my Smugmug: http://ispithotsoleyman.smugmug.com/M-2009)

HABITAT HOSTELS, Singapore’s only boutique flashpackers hostel, is the best choice for budget travelers looking for an environment of personal service, pampered luxury and chic furnishings, coupled with an excellent location.

Our fully air-conditioned rooms feature the unique first-of-it’s-kind pod dorms (to follow the Japanese pod-styled capsule idea) to provide backpackers with unparalleled privacy and personal space. The pod is self-enclosed while remaining spacious, and features its own reading light and a small ledge for personal items.

Capitalizing on personal service that includes regular social activities, games, outings and in-house themed parties (Popiah party, anyone?) will serve as an excellent icebreaker amongst guests at the hostel.

Habitat Hostel is housed in a 3-storey pre-war shophouse with a charming Chinese Baroque façade. We are the only hostel strategically located at Devonshire Road, just a 2-minute walk to Orchard Road – the epicenter of Singapore’s premium shopping and entertainment belt. Being located a stone’s throw away from Orchard Road and Somerset MRT stations gives Habitat Hostel the advantage of being easily accessible yet being away from it all. It’s rich heritage, charming ambience and relaxing atmosphere makes this the perfect location for a boutique hostel concept.

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14.10.2009 Reviews, Travel 2 Comments

Singapore and F1 in Photos: Race Night

Monday, October 12th, 2009

(to see more photos, see my Smugmug: http://ispithotsoleyman.smugmug.com/M-2009)

Driver’s Parade:

The F1 Race:

Post Race:

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12.10.2009 Sports, Travel No Comments

Singapore and F1 in Photos: Qualifying and Pre-Race Sunday

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

(to see more photos, see my Smugmug: http://ispithotsoleyman.smugmug.com/M-2009)

Saturday: (Qualifying and Practice- other non-F1 racing goes on too!)

Sunday, pre-race:

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11.10.2009 Sports, Travel No Comments

Singapore and F1 in Photos: The City

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

(to see more photos, see my Smugmug: http://ispithotsoleyman.smugmug.com/M-2009)

City Shots:

F1 Around the City:

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10.10.2009 Sports, Travel No Comments

F1 Singapore!

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

F1 Singapore

Going to Singapore for the F1 late next month!

For a few years, I’d been wanting to go to F1 Malaysia, but it’s been an issue of timing and money. I liked Michael Shumacher (greatest F1 driver ever) a lot, and when he announced he would come out of retirement for the rest of the year, I had to make sure I got tickets take advantage of this last opportunity to see him.

Unfortunately, last week, he said he couldn’t make it out of retirement after all (http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/f1/news/story?id=4390787).

But it’s ok. I haven’t been to Singapore in a while, and a short trip would be good for me, and I want to check out some things there anyway.

I’m no F1 superfan- I mainly read about it on ESPN rather than watch it, but I do like car racing, and I used to be a huge Indycar fan when I was a kid when Michael Andretti was still racing (he failed his one year in F1 though). Now, I’ll be rooting for Lewis Hamilton.

I’m going alone, which kind of sucks at first thought, but I’m ok with it- it’s been a long time since I went on a trip alone, and I was quite fine before. I tend to get too dependant on other people, and being alone helps me focus on what I want to do and feel more natural doing it because I’m less self-conscious. I’m also staying at a hostel for the first time- this ones looks super nice and is in an ideal location. Hotels are at least $110 USD (and are rising) per night, but I decided to go with a hostel to try something new and saving money is never a bad thing.

Mapping out the trip:

(Check out Flair Candy for a pretty good article on her trip last year: http://www.flaircandy.com/2009/03/watching-the-singapore-formula-1-grand-prix-on-a-budget/- it helped me plan out what I wanted to do)

  • F1 3 Day Walkabout Tickets $135 USD – this is expensive, but also the cheapest option by far.
  • Singapore Flyer: http://www.singaporeflyer.com/ – I guess this is the London Eye of Singapore
  • Night Safari: http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/ – Wanted to do this a few years ago, but it ended up raining when I was there
  • Random Shopping: I don’t think I will actually buy anything (I am sure I will spend enough money at the actual race on random stuff and food) but will probably go look for jerseys (Peninsula Shopping Center) and second hand stuff in my spare time, mainly out of curiosity.

I was going to go see Beyonce for the recently announced F1 Rocks concert, but tickets are a ridiculously expensive $125 USD (not even for seats!) to go see her and Black Eyed Peas on the Saturday of the F1 weekend.

Formula 1 sessions schedule:

The race itself sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve never been to a car race before, and this will be a night race in the city, the only one in F1. I don’t think I will make the Friday session, but I plan to do most of Saturday, and of course Sunday.

  • Friday 25th September
    • Free practice 1: 19:00-20:30
    • Free practice 2: 21:30-23:00
  • Saturday 26th September
    • Free practice 3: 19:00-20:00
    • Qualifying: 22:00-23:00
  • Sunday 27th September
    • Race: 20:00
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19.08.2009 Sports, Travel 2 Comments