bruneihalal held a sampling session at Supa save Seria last Saturday, 1st March 2014 from 1 to 6pm and the event was a success as the public had a sampling taste of bruneihalal products. They also had special promotion where customers will be given bruneihalal merchandise when they buy their products last Saturday. For your info, bruneihalal’s locally-manufactured dipping sauces have already been out on shelves in the country. In the near future, bruneihalal will be introducing their frozen range to add to its array of products, which to date include sparkling juices, Dishes of India meal accompaniments, cooking sauces and microwavable rice. Supa save is just one of many major grocer chains in Brunei which carry bruneihalal branded products. You can visit their website at www.-brunei-halal.com or the brand’s official Facebook (Brunei Halal) for a list of supermarkets which retail bruneihalal products.

bruneihalal team recently at Supa Save Seria for their food sampling

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha, His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at Prime Minister’s Office and Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pg Anak Isteri Pg Anak Sarah and members of the Royal Family with the Chinese Community (Tiong Hwa) at the ICC yesterday. Click image to enlarge. Image courtesy of Vincent Hong.

This is another get together event with His Majesty and the members of the Royal Family where members of the Chinese community hosted the annual Lunar New Year celebrations at the International Convention Centre.

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha, His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at Prime Minister’s Office and Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pg Anak Isteri Pg Anak Sarah attended the Chinese New Year event.

Their Majesties were feted with ancient and modern performances and there was also an exhibition to showcase the traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies. This annual event started back in 2006 and it’s under the flagship of the Tiong Hwa community that is funded by 51 associations.

I missed the earlier performances as I was catching up the first half of the Oscars and of course, I wanted to see my friend Hui Chiet in the traditional Chinese wedding gown 😀

Did you catch the Oscars?

My predictions were 70/30 for the Oscars. Though 12 Years A Slave won Best Picture, it was Alfonso Cuáron’s Gravity that grabbed most of the awards (7 out of 9 awards). 12 Years A Slave had three Oscars – Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Gravity picked Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. Yes, Gravity does deserved all these accolades and my prediction for the Best Picture were between both 12 Years A Slave and Gravity. I recently purchased Gravity on 3D Blu-Ray and even cinemas in Singapore have re-released the movies on IMAX 3D for Gravity. It was my 2nd top movie of 2014 and it has a high replay value. Well done, Alfonso, and I also love your work on Children of Men. Epic!!!

For your info, Brad Pitt is one of the producers for 12 Years A Slave. Awesome!! It’s another big win for Steve McQueen (director and producer) after winning the Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA’s Best Film. So it’s no surprise that a movie about slavery will pick top honours. I have watch this movie as well and it was a pretty disturbing experience but a powerful one. It’s one of those movies that I will watch once and let it be a memory. It’s unfortunate that the movie won’t be making it Brunei screens but you can probably get hold of it on DVD or Blu-ray.

Perhaps the biggest losers are American Hustle as they were nominated in 10 categories but went home with none. David O. Russell, the director of American Hustle, has claimed zero awards in the five nominations he had in the past five years. He lost out in Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter and now American Hustle. The other nominations he had was for Adapted Screenplay for American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook. Oh well, Russell, but a consolation perhaps is that both Gangs of New York (2002) and True Grit (2010) had 10 Oscars nomination and won none.

I was hoping for Leonardo to bag the Best Actor award but he missed out yet again. He was nominated for Best Actor in The Aviator (2005), Blood Diamond (2007) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1994) as Best Supporting Actor. In the end, he lost out to first time Oscar nominee, Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club which I have yet to catch.

Overall, I enjoyed the Oscars hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and perhaps the biggest news of the Oscars for Ellen was the retweets that she had that had at least 2 million tweets alone and crashed Twitter for a moment. Mmmm it seems people are still used to the word “selfie” while “usie” hasn’t really picked up. For your info, “usie” is a group version for selfie.

Do check out The Popcorn Panel for our thoughts on the Oscars. Till then, enjoy the week 😀

The Winners Lists.

Best Picture • 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role • Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role • Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role • Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role • Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature • Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography • Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design • The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing • Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature • 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short • The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing • Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film • The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling • Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score • Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song • Let It Go – Frozen
Best Production Design •The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film • Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film • Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing • Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing • Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects • Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay• 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay • Her (Spike Jonze)

The producers of 12 Years A Slave with their Oscars for Best Picture

The guys behind Frozen for winning Best Animated Feature. Awesome!!

The Best Actor, The Best Actress, The Best Supporting Actress and The Best Supporting Actor 😀

Alfonso Cuarón with his Oscar for Best Direction in Gravity 😀

12 Years A Slave – one of the most engrossing movies yet disturbing at the same time. Verdict: 8.5

I enjoyed American Hustle and it’s sad that David O.Russell’s movie failed to pick an award despite the 10 nominations.

I was rooting for Leonardo DiCaprio to win the Best Actor for his portrayal in The Wolf of Wall Street

The most retweeted picture in history shot by Samsung Note 3 of Ellen’s phone but at back stage, she switched back to your iPhone. Sneaky!!!