B.A.P.'s Warrior is #badass!

B.A.P. for Best, Absolute, Perfect is one of the highest anticipated debut in K-pop. All these while, three of the members were known - Bang Yong Guk, ZELO and Him Chan. Bang and ZELO showed us their capability in singing and rapping while Him Chan is host of MTV The Show together with Hyeri of Girl's Day.

B.A.P. is TS Entertainment's first boy band and one of the most ambitious project by the company to date. The band consists of Bang Yong Guk (leader & main rapper), HimChan (sub-vocalist, rapper), (Daehyun) (main vocalist), Youngjae (lead vocalist), Jongup (main dancer) and ZELO (lead rapper, lead dancer & maknae).

Teaser for Warrior showed us that the music video will be a #badass. I am not disappointed! Just as teased. All of them don't look like rookies.



Not only I like B.A.P. very much but TS Entertainment marketing strategy for their new boy band is commendable for building the most awaited debut in history.

Annoying Mandarin Orange wishes everyone Chinese New Year!

Wow Naga DDB introduced us to the long lost cousin of Annoying Orange. Speaks a different language but still as annoying as its Western counterpart.

Guess what? It's year of the Water Dragon! *This New Year, a lot of waterrrrrrrrr!*

Valentine's Day Contest by Creative Visual Studio

Good day readers. I had a chance to visit my friend FeeqSays' Creative Visual Studio in Puchong. What he has in store?


Tadah! A contest is going on! Here's your chance to win BIG!





In conjunction with Valentine's Day, Creative Visual Studio will be giving away prizes worth RM 4000 in total.

First Prize (worth RM 1570)

• Photoshoot up to 3 hours - worth RM 500
• Custom album/photobook - worth RM 400
• Valentine hamper - worth RM 200
• Computer card design + printing
• Exclusive photo frame
• Unlimited edited photos
• Printed photos

Second Prize (worth RM 1320)

• Photoshoot up to 3 hours
• Unlimited edited photos
• Valentine hamper
• Custom album
• Printed photos

Third Prize (worth RM 1110)

• Photoshoot up to 2 hours
• Unlimited edited photos
• Custom album
• Printed photos

How to participate in Valentine's Day Contest?

STEP 1. Tag yourself and your partner in the poster posted in this album Do inform Creative Visual Studio if you face any technical problem.
STEP 2. Take a photo of yourself and your partner and send it to contest@creativevstudio.com. Please include your name, your partner's name and contact no. Your contact no. will not be published.
STEP 3. Your photo will be uploaded into this album. Ask your friends to "Like" your photo.
STEP 4. Wait for the winners announcement on 1st of Feb 2012. The photo with the highest "Likes" wins!


How to vote for your friend?

STEP 1. "Like" Creative Visual Studio Facebook page.
STEP 2. Get into this photo album and click on your friend's photo.
STEP 3. "Like" the photo. You've cast your vote for your friend!
STEP 4. Don't forget to spread the news.

Terms and Conditions:

• Photoshoot will be based in Klang Valley depending on the organizer.
• Custom album can be collected 1 - 2 months after the photoshoot session.

Bang Yong Guk & Zelo First Asia Tour in Malaysia

I was excited to attend Bang Yong Guk 方勇国 and Zelo's fanmeet in Sg. Wang Plaza.

Yong Guk's rapping talent was featured in his labelmate Song Ji Eun's solo track, Going Crazy. It propelled him to fame - hence it's no question that Yong Guk is a rookie to watch this year!



We heard Yong Guk introduced himself in Malay "Nama saya Bang Yong Guk *spazzzzz*

They played mini games with lucky fans!



Yong Guk revealed names of other members in his band. They are Daehyun, Jong Up, Him Chan and Yong Jae.

More photos (taken from B.A.P Singapore Facebook):







Fancams:





Before they left for the day, Yong Guk thanked fans in Malay and Chinese!

I had a memorable K-pop fanmeet in my home country! Thanks to Inspire.ME and Latina Marketing for making this possible.

Related links:
Bang Yong Guk & ZELO Asia Tour in Malaysia
Bang Yong Guk and ZELO to visit Malaysian fans in January - JonYKT.com

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 for quasicrystals

Nobel Prize isn't all about following the hard and fast rules of Nature. When you come across an observation that's not explained by existing rules, you gotta find a new explanation, no matter how long the journey is. You just gotta believe your eyes provided that everything has been done right. Not only that, you have to fight hard to prove your point, because people don't have good forgeteries, as Peter Mitchell (pioneer of chemiosmosis theory in mitochondria) said it.

Dan Shechtman Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011 was such an example.



When he observed a sample of alloy consisting of aluminium and manganese, he saw this in the diffraction pattern:


A concentric ring of dots. It has a regular pattern but they do not repeat themselves. Hence, atoms in the solid are arranged in a regular but never repeating pattern. For this reason, it's called a quasicrystal.

Colleagues put him down. He was even asked to leave his research group for defending his findings. He was called to be "wrong according to the textbook. One of Dan's fiercest critic was Linus Pauling (Nobel Prize in Chemistry & Nobel Peace Prize laureate). Despite this he never gave up and worked to have his discovery published in a journal.

Eventually, Dan's findings was reconfirmed by other scientists. The discovery of quasicrystal even compelled the International Union of Crystallography to change the definition of a crystal from "a substance in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating three-dimensional pattern" to the broader "any solid with a discrete diffraction pattern" to accommodate future discoveries.

How to explain a structure with a regular but no repeating pattern? Islamic art has done it a few centuries ago. With a minimum of two types of tiles, you can create a pattern that never repeats itself.



I'm sure more substance with the attribute of quasicrystal will be discovered along the way. Who knows advanced materials with properties we've never thought before come from this?

You may call it strange or impossible. Quantum mechanics was called impossible at first, but without it we'll never enjoy computers today.

Subjects in my final semester

Good day, folks. I have finished my third year at University of Melbourne but I have not blogged about the subjects I've taken. I'm so excited about beginning my final semester, it was the last chance to put my scholarship into good use.

Cell Signalling and Neurochemistry: Just like humans need to communicate to form a society, cells in our body need to communicate with each other to keep the organism functioning. Growth factors and hormones are key to coordinate activity of cells. What are the inner mechanisms to interpret messages received from exterior of the cell? This subject covers it in great detail. Cell-cell communication plays a big role in disease processes such as cancer, neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders. The central theme of this subject is all about cellular machinery for communication :)

Protein Structure and Function: Proteins are the workhorses in our body. After proteins are made, they need to be formed into appropriate shapes in order to function. This subject covers patterns found in molecular structure of proteins and their biological functions. Interested to create a protein that has a function not existing in nature? This subject will teach you the gist of that too.

Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology: Introduces you to how plants function at the molecular level and application of biotechnological techniques to manipulate plants for novel purposes. Topics covered include photosynthesis, cell wall synthesis, RNA interference, genetic engineering, salt tolerance and disease resistance.

Out of all subjects, my favourite was Cell Signalling and Neurochemistry. I didn't have the freedom of fee-paying students getting to sample additional subjects until I find them useful; as my tenure of scholarship has a limited time I have to make no mistake on my subject choice. I have chosen what I've always wanted to do - molecular science, taking all subjects offered by the biochemistry department has served this purpose. All subjects offered by the department are demanding - they want to teach the best things to you and they want the best out of you.

Communication is key whether you're a whole organism, a single cell or a protein inside a cell.

What taught me about passion?

I have been hearing so much of compliments for my academic achievement but very few actually know the experience that made me one. There is no secret about doing well in school.

Before Standard 4 in primary school I was taught to get things right. I knew nothing about passion. All I knew was teacher being "fierce". During Standard 3, my ranking dropped significantly because I was distracted.

What pulled me back?

My exposure in science (and other subjects) began in Standard 4. I was interested in science (even my parents knew and expected that I would do well in it). My good performance in science boosted my class ranking to second place, something that I least expect.

The significant improvement in my academic ranking gave me a moral boost to improve my other subjects. Next, I claimed the first place of my cohort.


Keeping the standard is still my concern but ranking is unimportant to me now. Nevertheless, the experience taught me about the power of passion. With a burning passion, you'll naturally do well.