Cosplay at Taylor’s Anime Fest

I am no fan of cosplay but I just love to see the fans dressed up in costumes of their favourite characters (from video games, animated films, Japanese graphic novels) acting out their roles and assuming their personalities for the day.

So this is the place at Taylor’s Anime Fest 2008, the place to see the talents of our young people, something that probably the government should be looking at. Here the place is full of cute young girls and boys dressing up to be lookalike of anime, manga, video games characters and acting out their fantasies. There's no harm dressing up which I think is good clean fun that encourages creativity.

I don't know some of those manga characters they're dressed as. But I'm sure I would like pictures taken of them.

The event held on Saturday 26th July 2008 was organised by Taylor’s Anime Society of Taylor’s University College in Subang Jaya. It attracted quite a crowd and entrance was RM5.00 per head.

Besides stalls selling figurines and food; the events lined-up included stepmania, fan art competition, painting competition, computer games challenge and lucky draw but the main attraction was the Cosplay Competition where cosplayers demonstrated their skills in creating costumes, putting on skits, and techinical skills.

Note:
Cosplay is short for “Costume Play”. It’s an act of dressing up to be lookalike of anime, manga and video games character. It's cosplay is called Cosplayer. Cosplay originate from Japan and is popular outside Japan because of Japanese animation, movies, and pop culture influence in those countries.

Famous Jalan 223 nasi lemak

It was 10.30 pm tonight and the big crowd at the Selera Jaya 223 food court at Jalan 223, Petaling Jaya was considered normal. It is open 24 hours and packed most of the time as the place serves as a food court for factory workers working at the surrounding factories.

Although there were 60 stalls selling different types of food, not all of them open at the same time. Some stalls open only in the daytime and others at night. in fact, the main attraction at this food court is the nasi lemak.
So me and my friends were lucky enough to find a place to seat. A stall helper quickly placed on our table a plate filled with nasi lemak packed in banana leaf.

It was hot nasi lemak fresh from the cooking pot! The rice was soft and easy to digest. The taste was real good. The big crowd who came for the nasi lemak is a testimony to it.

There was only the rice, spicy sambal (chilli) and a half hard boiled egg. No cucumber slices, no small dried ikan bilis and no roasted peanuts. Well, what do you expect for RM1.20 a packet, just up from original RM1.00 due to recent petrol price hike. 

There were also two other nasi lemak stalls open but Stall No.6 known as Gerai Yati No.6 seems to be the favourite of the patrons there.

If you are for tasty nasi lemak panas (hot) with no fuss and no frill at low cost, this is the right place.

Note:Nasi lemak is a Malay word that means 'rice in cream'. The name is derived from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in rich coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Traditionally, this comes as a platter with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg and hot spicy sauce (sambal). It is often sold packed in brown paper or banana leaf.

The Gerai Yati stall No.6 is the favourite of patrons at the food court.

Yati (foreground) and her two workers packing the nasi lemak hot from the cooking pot.

The Selera Jaya 223 food court is always packed with people.

The nasi lemak packed in banana leaf.

Hot day noon bazaar at Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Tengah

Jalan Tengah in KL City resembles the streets around Masjid India area come every Friday afternoon between 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm as the street suddenly comes alive with many roadside stalls that sprung out selling mostly foodstuff and clothes. A bargain paradise for shoppers in a bazaar atmosphere.

Jalan Tengah is located behind the office buildings of Menara Weld, Menara Affin, Menara MIDF, Wisma Lim Foo Yong and The Lodge Hotel which are facing Jalan Raja Chulan. 

There are more than 50 stalls that lined on both sides of the street from end to end.

The bustling noon market see mostly vendors displayed their wares on stalls, while others just spread them out on the pavement. 

The street is usually crowded and motorists had to inch their way through slowly least they knocked into them. 

It would be good if the authority could close the street to vehicles during the "business" hours to avoid any mishap.

Office workers formed the bulk of the lunch-hour shoppers.

Tourists had even made their way here. I had seen them with camcorders and cameras on their hands.

Motorists passing through the street had to drive slowly to avoid hitting into the crowd of shoppers.

Chinese New Year Celebration event

I was told that SEA Park had never seen a Chinese New Year celebration on such a big scale and magnitude since its formation in the 1960s.

So I was not really surprised when more than 2,000 people, young, old and the handicap jam-packed the open air car park to witness the historical event and of course to enjoy the non-stop fun and entertainment. Organized by the SEA Park Residents Association, it was held on Sunday 23.2.2008 from 6.00 pm to 11.00 pm.

There were acrobatic Lion Dance performance by World Champion Troupe from Muar and acrobatic Dragon Dance performance.

Three Gods of Prosperity made their appearance to give ang-pows packets to everyone.

Other spectacular highlights performed on stage were :-

Face-Changing Performance by an artiste from China
Black Cat Dance Performance
Children Performance
Harmonica Performance
F&N Teh-Tarik Demo by National Champion
Hip-Hop Dance
Break Dance
Line Dance
Aerobic Dance

Finally, the spectacular fireworks display which everyone was waiting for exploded at 10.30 pm. Eight minutes later after the explosion died down, the Black Cat performers continued their energetic dances on stage until 11.00 pm when everyone called it a day!

I can see the smiles, happiness and satisfactions on everyone’s face that they had a wonderful evening well spent.

Part of the 2,000 strong crowd at the event.

A Dragon Dance troupe performing to welcome visitors.


Two lions went around the main streets of SEA Park to announce the start of event.

The three Gods of Prosperity representing three major races; a Chinese, an Indian and a Malay.


The wheel-chair bound also join in the celebration.


The balloon-making man entertaining the children.


The face-changing performer thrilled the crowd with her tricks.


Sexy dancers entertained the crowd.


The Teh-Tarik champion with his many antics.


The fireworks display everyone was waiting for.