So, I take it that a number of people have watched Fast and Furious 6 since its premiere on May 7 in London. I had a pair of tickets to be redeemed too so Mom and I figured, why not watch Fast 6?

I may not know a lot about cars but I love beautiful cars. Damn, there are lots of them in the movie, Fast and Furious 6. And, one of my favourite action stars, Vin Diesel is in the movie.

"Drive or Die".



Directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan, Fast and Furious 6 already won two Golden Trailer awards. It is also the sixth installment in the Fast and the Furious series.

The story so far:
Dominic Toretto and his gang succeeded in robbing 100 million dollars in the previous Fast and the Furious installment. They decided to retire and continue with their lives. However, they are still fugitives. Luke Hobbs, a Diplomatic Security Service officer who is assisted by Riley went to Toretto to help track down former British Special Forces soldier, Owen Shaw and his crew, who destroyed a Russian military convoy. Toretto was reluctant at first, but things changed when he was shown a recent photo of his girlfriend, Letty Ortiz who was believed to be dead. In return, Toretto and his gang are granted full pardons for their past misdoings.



Crazy driving skills and sexy cars are definitely in the movie. These guys are awesome drivers and did I mention crazy? Well, guess that's what makes an awesome movie.



The car above is a flip car that is used by the antagonist, Owen Shaw. It's an F1 style car and is fully functional. Apparently, the ramp in front of the car is used to catapult other cars into the air... And quite a number of cars were catapulted in the movie.



Yes, it's really a tank. It was mentioned that the tank ran over approximately 250 cars during filming. Hmmm, they do have a huge budget. It still breaks my heart to see beautiful cars getting crushed.

Like most movies, Fast 6 ended with an unexpected twist: betrayal. And loss of life. So, expect the unexpected.



Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto. (and also one of the producers of Fast 6)




Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, who's currently in a relationship with Dominic Toretto's sister, Mia.



Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Luke Hobbs.



Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia Ortiz, a.k.a. Letty.



Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce.



Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh.



Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker.



Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar. She's pretty much my favourite actress throughout the movie. Cool, beautiful, charming, hot driver.. the list goes on and on. (She won Miss Israeli by the way)



Gina Carano as Riley.



Luke Evans as Owen Shaw.



Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto.

The post-credit scene includes.... *drumrolls* Jason Statham!



From what I know about Jason Statham, he's one hell of a driver. Watched his Transporter series and the movie Parker and came to that conclusion. Looking forward to the next installment!

-pics Googled-

Fast 7 will be released next year, about this time. Hmm...

And hello, I'm back! Tomorrow's the last day of exams and both subjects are quite easy and there's no need to memorise so... here I am, blogging. 14 subjects in 7 days, fancy that!

Anyway, back to the blog post.. Celebrated Mother's Day at Dragon-i, an oriental restaurant. There are lots of outlets throughout Malaysia so locate your nearest outlet here!





We went to the outlet at 1U. This isn't my first time as I've had Dragon-i for quite a few years already. It was established in 2004 and I've had my share of Dragon-i since then. There's a Signature restaurant located in Pavilion and also, Canton-i restaurants, which are also a part of the big family.

\

And.. hello to the phone camera again. Sorry for the quality of some images.



Went out with mom, grandparents, siblings and the housekeeper/maid. :D





One of their signature dishes and on the must-try list is the Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, which is a meat dumpling filled with hot soup. Be careful not to poke a hole in the dumpling as the soup may spill before you get to taste it!

The Xiao Long Bao served here are quite delicious and one of the best I've tasted so far. Some other oriental restaurants' can't be compared to this. The soup is not too little and satisfying, the pork soft and tasty.. I could go on and on. We order the Xiao Long Bao every single time we visit Dragon-i because my sis is a huge fan of it. She absolutely loves it!

"The filling is a skillfully-balanced mix of minced pork shank, ginger and natural pork skin gelatin, which after steaming, melts into a tasty, delicious soup. To eat it, lift the dumpling gently and place it on a spoon, then pinch small a hole at the base. Carefully sip the hot melted soup before consuming the dumpling with the shredded ginger and Chinese black vinegar condiment it is served with for that perfect gourmet taste." - Dragon-i.com.my



Spring rolls.



Another one of my favourite dishes - Fried Seafood La Mian.
Personally, I don't quite like their soup La Mian (noodles) as they are quite tasteless. The Fried Seafood La Mian just has the right amount of saltiness in it. The seafood is also fresh and scrumptious.

We had some homemade dishes to go with white rice that day:



Baby Pork Ribs Glazed with Zhenjiang Black Vinegar - The pork ribs are not too hard nor too soft. Just right.



Stir Fried Fish Fillet with Aubergines - OK, seriously I've forgotten the exact name. I'm a huge fan of fish fillet so.. it's pretty good for me. Well-cooked.
Granma cooked this for dinner the other day after we had this. She succeeded. Guess I'll have a lot more dishes to look forward to. Hehehehe



Egg White with Crab Meat - with an egg yolk to add some flavour. The sauce prevented it from becoming tasteless. I like the taste of egg and crab meat, well-mixed.


And, last of all, Braised Chicken Taiwanese Style - hmm.. how do I describe this? It has a strong basil leaf smell-and-taste. The sauce is of the salty-and-sour kind. The chicken itself is chewy and lovely. Dang, they do know how to cook the chicken!



Eh. Like mother, like daughter.



And so, wish me luck for the last two exam subjects tomorrow!
See you guys soon :D

GE13, General Elections 2013. It's time for the elections again!
Well, for those who aren't citizens of Malaysia, please don't vote. This is Malaysia's election, let MALAYSIANS decide who to vote for.



This year's election is quite different from the past. Lots of campaigning, lots of enthusiasts, lots of foreign workers who were given chances to vote..?



-pic from FB-

Translation for picture above: Certain political leaders spent RM600million in 11 weeks for campaigning.

So, the main point is, Malaysia's politics are divided into two groups of people: Barisan Nasional (the governing party) and Pakatan Rakyat (the opposition party). Seems like people actually ARE doing something to change this year. They want to give the opposition a chance at governing the country.

Slogan? Ubah! (which means "Change!" in Malay)
This slogan is not just used by non-Malays but even the Malay hawker who was selling nasi lemak said so when we passed by him this morning.



-pic Googled-

Yes, I know I'm not old enough to vote and I may not understand politics as some others but still.. It breaks my heart to see an unfair election where every single kind of dirty tactic is used! Yes, politics is usually dark and dirty but this is way over the top.



-pic from FB-

Voters flocked to their voting stations no matter it is scorching hot or even raining (yes, they are still patiently waiting for their turn). Me? I followed mom to her voting station about 8.10 this morning. Moral support. :)



And, whoa. There are about a few hundred people there already. All queuing and waiting.



It was pretty hot then. And there was even a guy who fell while queuing. Heatstroke, maybe? Some people were watching videos and checking for updates on their smartphones, while some others were chatting about the elections or the weather or whatever. The point is, they don't have to know each other. They just talk to each other and mingle around, no matter what race or religion.



random pic taken by mom.



I learnt that there weren't so many people during the last election a few years ago. Mom went about 9pm and she just went straight in to cast her vote. This year, we queued for about an hour.



-pic from FB-

Now, phantom voters. What's that? They are those foreign workers who got an IC issued by the government and had their permission to vote. I mean, this is ridiculous. Shouldn't Malaysians vote for their future government instead of these foreign workers? Some of them are even allowed to vote twice. It gets on my nerves. Saw some reports of people hitting those foreigners, an action which I disapprove of. It's immoral! Hitting people is just not right. If you suspect them, just give the authorities a call. There's no need to hit them.



Those who have voted will have blue or black ink over their fingers to make sure they won't vote again. It was guaranteed to not go off for a few days but unfortunately, it does. Some experimented with dishwashers or soap but mom proved that it can be washed off with just water. A few million for this stuff? Wasteful.



And the process is done! Met up with XiuYu and we chilled for a little. After sending us home, mom went back to scout for phantom voters..

Here are some extracts:

"The regime of Malaysia's National Coalition Front (Barisan Nasional), had bribed to the official recruitment agency of Bangladesh, to allow a huge number of Bangladeshi workers (estimated about 600,000 people) deported from their homeland to Malaysia for such despicable and non democratic action." - petitions.whitehouse.gov

"But the ruling party has significant advantages, he says, in the cash it has spent on crowd-pleasing hand-outs, and in the way Malaysia's parliamentary system over-represents rural areas, where the government's support is strongest." - BBC News

"Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have spoken out against possible fraud with voters and foreigners allegedly being moved across the country. Several activists have shown video proof of such movements but police have dismissed those fears." - The Malaysian Insider

It doesn't matter that you're voting for Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat. It's entirely up to you. I'm not forcing anyone but please, think before you vote. Seriously.
I guess I've made my point clear. There's still 2 more hours to go. Good luck :)