Click image to University Cup 2013 Facebook page

 

Click image to enter flyroyalbrunei.com

 

Click image to enter Radisson Facebook Page

 

RA says it’s great to be alive and grateful for it as well. It was a strange past evenings I had especially before I hit the sack. I had this feeling of passing out whenever I was about to close my eyes to sleep. I would have this momentary blurry vision and feeling giddy for a split second when I was just about to shut my eyes. It was kinda weird but that was the best description that I could give.

I was kinda scared at the beginning and the first assumption that I will have is my own health. I started having all these thoughts of medical symptoms that might trigger all this. I know my cholesterol level is a one point from the safe zone and this was tested almost a half year ago. Yea, I could say I haven’t been eating properly and my egg intake is quite high *oopsy*

Anyway, there was another conclusion that I came up with and it could be the fact that my air circulation in my tiny room didn’t help either. For the past few days, my a/c was faulty and I was reminded that my a/c needs to be serviced every 3 to 4 months. Hence, last night I brought with me my bolster and duvet and slept downstairs in the living room and after half an hour, I felt better and I was able to doze off peacefully around 3ish *sorry bumbum* Well, it kinda proved that it might be the a/c in my room though that’s causing my body behaviour. We shall wait and see after my a/c is being serviced.

Today will be another big day for me as I will be presenting my business idea for the Ignite 2012 Business Plan Competition (formerly known as Think Big) and I will be up against 5 other finalists (3 three iCentre incubatees, one BICTA winner and one UBD lecturer) in the ICT Open Category. Tomorrow will be the prize presentation and I can’t really say if I’m nervous this time round or maybe it’s too soon to be nervous *lol* What is more important is I delivered my best and be content with it with no expectations attached. Well, maybe a little but not too high *lol*

My last participation was back in 2011 for Lovefoodhatewaste and that was a great experience. Good luck to all the participants especially to my friend Winnie Sia who is in the Student category for Ignite 2012. This will be my last participation in Ignite business plan competition and I want to play a role as a mentor for students for those interested to learn more about business plans and presentations.

Lately I’ve been in cloud nine because of my new found love – “Kara” *lol* For your info, Kara is a Korean girl band that have been growing in popularity and I was sold for the first time when I saw them live at the recent Golden Disk Awards 2013 in Kuala Lumpur. I also found new respect for Korean artistes and organisers simply because the concert was almost flawless and the quality delivered was very high indeed.

Now why I brought this topic in the “Ugly Truth” is one thing – can Bruneians rise up to these standards one day? Mind you, I still feel that live concerts by regional countries doesn’t come close to what the Koreans can do. So it’s safe to say that Brunei is a few steps behind our regional countries in terms of music and entertainment. Because of the lack of support as well as many guidelines from relevant agencies, this may have slow down any potential or creativity that our youth or talents may have in expressing them through means of music, arts and drama.

A friend of mine who has been in the local music scene shared with me on how challenging it has been for the Brunei music scene. Because of many restrictions, it kinda challenge our local talents to find ways to make music or entertainment acceptable and also well received. My friend said that the best way and the acceptable way (without any hiccups from the agencies) is to express music by simply playing musical instruments.

I love the “Open Mic” concept that was organised by my friend occasionally but I heard that soon venues will have restrictions imposed on having live band performing even though they are local artistes. I just hope this ain’t true. Last year, Andy and the Method managed to find loopholes in the system in order to perform for the public. It is sad to know that Brunei entertainment scene has been handicapped further (if the things I’ve mentioned above are implemented). We already know that international artistes are banned from performing publicly in Brunei unless it’s a private event.

So I feel that there is not much outlet for our musicians or singers to express themselves and I’m sure all these bring positive outcome and it’s way better than creating social ills in Brunei. I have seen some raw talents in Brunei but the support and the outlet (to showcase) are still a huge question mark. I believe there is still hope to fight for this because I believe in the positive outcome music can bring to our community especially the youth. 

On a positive note, the local movie scene might just open new doors for talents. I know Origins Films is coming up with a locally made movie named “Yasmine”. They have already casted some actors for the movie and I can’t wait to see the result. Another local movie that will be released soon by 23rd February is “Ada Apa Dengan Rina” and last week there was a special screening for media which I wasn’t able to attend and according my socmed buddies, this movie was hilarious and this is a great start coming from a local movie produced by Regalblue Production. I will just have to wait until the release date.

So here’s my segment of today’s The Ugly Truth and have a nice Tuesday ahead 😀

The casts of Ada Apa Dengan Rina. The movie is slated for a release on 23rd February. Image courtesy of Harlif Mohamad of Regalblue Production

Behind the scenes of last weekend’s photoshoot for Yasmine. Click image to enter Yasmine Facebook page.

A great initiative by Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam where they encouraged their customers to go green by viewing your bank account through means of e-Statement and they even throw in an awesome gimmick where you can stand a chance to win an iPhone 5 and promotion is valid until the 27th January.

Well, as a BIBD Online user, only then you will have access to free paperless statements. The steps are simple really once you log in and just follow the instructions from the poster below. It’s easy, quick and free!! and plus you stand a chance to win an iPhone 5 too.

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