KL Freeze in Unison
Apr 21, 2008 Events
I know, I know. I promised not to go on about this anymore but just got word that the video is out so here it is! Watching it gives me goosebumps. I still stand by my early thoughts about KL Freeze in Unison - it was brilliant! :)
One of my pictures was used, and er, Niki makes an appearance. Where’s Niki?
Tags: Events
Buzz kill
Apr 21, 2008 Events
Those of you who have been following the publicity for KL Freeze in Unison which happened two weekends ago would know that I have done nothing but rave about the event. I had written a post-event article for The Star, and later, in my column, spoke about my personal feelings towards such an event. I still stick to my opinions on that, despite what I am blogging about today.
If you click the above two links, I don’t have to explain what KL Freeze in Unison is all about.
Anyway, on Wednesday or Thursday, I received a phone call from Zain HD, the mastermind behind KL Freeze in Unison. He informed me that Hitz.fm was going to organise its own freeze in conjunction with World Earth Day (which is tomorrow, April 22 btw) and wanted Zain and his team to help them organise it.
My first reaction, and I told this to Zain, was that it was too soon. For one, I don’t think the papers would have picked up the news anyway (my news sense wasn’t tingling either) but I promised to show up to support. After all, it’s to spread awareness on World Earth Day so what the heck.
I show up at 7.30pm at Sunway Pyramid and found many people who like me were wearing green. I wore a badge too which we sold at last years World Environment Day celebrations at FRIM.
I’m not quite sure if it was just me, and that I had attended the first major Freeze event, but there was no excitement. While at the Lot 10 event everyone was wondering how the pieces of paper with instructions were going to be distributed, this time everybody just stood there waiting for it to be released. And because it was so widely publicised, there was no sense of mystery anymore, which took away the tension.
It was 10 minutes late, but the papers were eventually distributed. There were two locations, and I went to the one which seemed pretty crowded (but that’s also because it wasn’t a very big space). Everyone sat and mingled, laughed alot and took lots of pictures and then a countdown happened (this wasn’t a flash mob after all) and everyone froze.
I did too (but held my camera up so I could snap a few pictures - okay, so maybe my finger didn’t freeze). This is my favourite shot from the day.
When it ended, everyone clapped and I left almost immediately. Contrary to early talk, I don’t think the numbers were more than from the first event. And truth be told, I’m not sure if the whole environmental thing got through. For one, you can ssume that those who joined to participate have already been convinced (and as there was no speeches, activities etc to indicate that it was a World Earth Day event other than the plugs on the radio station). Secondly, well, it’s not so environmentally-friendly to print the instructions on pieces of paper, right? No matter if the paper was green in colour.
I’m not putting the event down, just that I didn’t get as much out of it as the first event. And speaking to some people who were there, I wasn’t alone in the way I felt.
If KL Freeze in Unison gave me (or KL-ites) a high, then Freeze for World Eath Day was a buzzkill.
Tags: Events, World Earth Day
nicster^ rants v.3
Apr 20, 2008 Announcements
Dec 7, 2005 was the last time I had posted on my personal blog. I know this because Google helped me find my old site. I totally forgot I had a Blogger account.
But this new blog, and a new personal web site to come (can we all spell N.A.R.C.I.S.S.I.S.T?), has been playing in my head for over a year. I never got to it until last Monday, when I had two days off work, and I thought what the heck, I’ll get to it.
It took me a few days to sort it all out - new domain, installing WordPress (after my complications with MT last time, I’m keeping my distance), etc - I finally get to post up my first post.
nicster rants first appeared in 2002, when I posted two commentary pieces - one on the then-approaching first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, and another on International AIDS Memorial Day 2002. It was not long after that I was bitten by the blogging bug and started, well, ranting on the net.
Fast forward to 2008. The demise of my passion for blogging started in the third quarter of 2005, when I was on contract with The Star. I was brought in to conceptualise and manage R.AGE, a youth pullout dedicated to tertiary students and Sixth Formers, but was so short-handed (just me and another full-time reporter) that I spent almost everyday writing. When I got home, I did not feel like writing anymore.
So much has happened since. Working at The Star has given me the opportunity to write some of my best stories, and a fortnightly column The Bangsar Boy, in which I have used at times to argue my thoughts.
Like back then, I still don’t have a good reason for why I have a blog, or why you should be interested in what I write. But as was the case before, some people did find it interesting enough to come back, and I hope the same happens this time (if I wanted to write for myself, I’d write a journal).
So much has advanced, technology-wise, since I last blogged and I’m going to attempt to incorporate some of those elements here.
But how far I go, as with this blog, remains to be seen with time.
For the moment, I’m just happy to be back.
- Niki Cheong, Apr 21, 2008 -
p/s Why v.3? v.1 was the now-defunct nicsteronline.com, v.2 was my Blogger account, which still exists btw. Have just discovered this site, so will find a way to import my old posts soon.
Tags: blog, myself, nicster rants
