Still "jetlagged" from weekend trip

Today is World Diabetes Day and the theme is to wear blue to create awareness for this campaign. Take a pic of you wearing blue and send to reedz@ anakbrunei.org

Firstly, good day to all the readers. I didn’t expect that I’m gonna take a day off after my quick weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur to cover the Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) which was superb. Perhaps the timing of the flight schedule took a toll on me as I had lack of sleep and I was restless by the time I hit my bedroom after my early morning flight. I even missed sending my family off to the airport the same day as I was catching on my sleep.

Now I feel better and slowly recovering back the groove of blogging. It was also a packed weekend in Brunei which I missed too. The successful Covergence 2011 hosted by ProjekBrunei was well received with positive comments. The International Week Jis Concert according to @lilmopiko was pretty good too. KFC Brunei and Mega Strike Bowl at Airport Mall kicked off the 11.11.11 last Friday and it was also the unveiling of The Airport Mall logo created by Mixmediaworx. Baiduri Bank hosted Deepavali dinner last weekend too.

I shall be posting pictures of the events happening last weekend but for now, I shall be posting some pictures from AIM 2011 and I would like to thank my friend for giving me the opportunity to cover the event and also introducing me to the organiser of the event – Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM).

Too bad that Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza wasn’t present during the event and she has the most record for being the most awardee for the Best Female Vocalists (11 times). She wasn’t even nominated in any category. (Maybe because she hasn’t recorded any songs? I haven’t done any research). But it was the first time I saw Yuna live and wow, I was super impressed. She was the big winner of AIM 2011, winning the Best Female Vocalist (Penakut), Kembara Award (for brining the music internationally) and most of all, she won Best Song (Penakut) which kinda created controversy in a way. Why? Because “Penakut” song wasn’t airplay-ed as much as the other nominated songs. But of course, the organisers based on the criteria of music arrangement, song, lyrics, voice and other things and not based on popularity *thumbs up*

Sheila Majid bagged the best album – The Malaysian Philharomonic Orchestra Celebrate 25 years of Sheila Majid. Anuar Zain was one of the big winners for Best Male Vocal and Best Pop Song (Sedetik Lebih). Perhaps the best performance of the night was the duet between Greyson Chance and Najwa Latif.. Simply awesome….

We attended the Post-Party AIM 2011 which was held in one of the rooms at Putra Bukit Jalil Stadium. Not all artist were present but it was still a great crowd attraction for many. I didn’t get to mingle with any of the artists but more of taking photos of them up-close. It was a great experience and it’s good to see how the locals are supporting the music industry and their fight against piracy. In Brunei, piracy is still a huge problem and this could deter the local artists in Brunei to be more creative if their music are not appreciated if fans just download their music for free.

Najwa, Datuk Sheila Majid and Yuna with their AIM trophies at AIM 2011. Photo by Shahrul Fazry Ismail.

This happened somewhere near E-GNC building today. Picture taken from FB *forgot from who lol*

The smoke was quickly handled by the rescue team. Image taken by GC.

The biggest prize achieved by Brunei happened a few nights ago at Pattaya Thailand. It was the APICTA Awards (regional competition) and MTSSR bagged the biggest prize as they beat 24 groups from 19 countries to win the Merit Award from Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011. The project was named” Brunei Experience Multimedia Project” and it all started at the beginning of the year.

Since then, the project had won 3 awards:

1. Winner – The VTIs Engineering and Technology Final Year Project Competition in 2011
2. Winner – Brunei ICT Awards 2011 Tertiary Category
3. Merit Award : Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011

MTSSR is the first to win the merit Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011 for Brunei. They competed with other universities in the tertiary category though MTSSR students are in diploma level. The “Brunei Experience” is an interactive multimedia using the latest technology in Adobe Action Script Animation, XML, Google API and High Definition Video. The MTSSR group was given a standing ovation by the judges for that day during their presentation.

Supervisor : Haji Suhardi Bin Haji Suhaimi
Students : Abdul Rashid Hj Osman (Group Leader), Mohd Rafiee Hj Rahim, Fatin Liyana Suhili and Dk Siti Syuhaidah Pg Hj Bahruddin.

For their efforts, AITI has awarded them with BND 25,000 to further develop their project. According to Abdul Rashid, the project funds will be used to develop the project in promoting Brunei tourism. MTSSR would like to take the opportunity to thanks, Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI), Ministry of Education, Department of Technical Education and everyone in MTSSR who support us especially our principal, deputy principals, Computing and Information Technology Department, Welding and Fabrication and English Department.

Chung Hwa Middle School (CHMS) won the Merit Award in Secondary category. So it’s a double win for Brunei. Their project was “WaSeven Facilities Reservation” which is about reserving facilities in their school by using a simple system. CHMS will also be awarded BND 25,000 for their efforts.

Such awards do show that Brunei Darussalam are no push overs in terms of ICT development. We have the talents but we just need more support, programmes, incentives and better facilities to give more motivation for the youth for their creativity in ICT. Thumbs up to AITI also for providing funding to the Merit Award winners. Images below are courtesy of Saini, Library Department of MTSSR.

MTSSR group was welcomed by the Minister of Communications at Brunei International Airport after their victory at APICTA Awards at Pattaya, Thailand

MTSSR’s project first award back in January 2011

MTSSR won BICTA 2011 Tertiary Category

Chung Hwa Middle School also the big winners for Secondary level