Bubba Gump Shrimp @ The Curve

24th Oct

After the success of the movie “Forrest Gump”, Paramount Pictures approached Rusty Pelican Restaurants Inc. with their desire to open a casual family restaurant with a theme based on Forrest Gump’s life, philosophy and love of shrimp. In 1996, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. opened its first restaurant on Cannery Row in Monterey, Calif.


Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. captures the charm that made “Forrest Gump” a smash hit, featuring décor reminiscent of the movie’s setting in Alabama. The restaurant showcases memorabilia and still-photos from the movie, along with reproductions of script pages, storyboards and even some costumes. Scrawled “Gumpisms” grace the varnished tabletops inside and guests can try on plaster casts of Forrest’s running shoes at the famed bus bench in front of each restaurant location.

When I walked past the Bubba Gump outlet in The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, I stopped dead in my tracks and spent several minutes going throught the various souvenirs items on sales. And then i found myself seated inside, taking in the decor and movie memorabilia.

The decor has a Southern warmth and charm to it; just like one of those diners we always see in movies..


Along the wall, items from the Forrest Gump movie were used as decoration. Here we have a replica of the dress little Jenny wore..


And a picture of the adult Jenny (played by Robin Wright Penn)..


The dining table itself is full of lines and quotes from the movie.. Great for you to play a bit of movie trivia while waiting for your food..


And speaking about food, there's shrimp, more shrimp and so much more shrimp you'll be lucky if you don't get into a gastronomic overdose..


Some cool drinks to help you washed it all down..


Tried it, loved it and can't wait to go back...

MotoGP

23rd October

The MotoGP race will be the last major motorsports event in SIC for 2009. With the A1GP in limbo, it's unlikely the Nov Malaysian round will take place.

Despite much planning, shit happened and I arrived in Sepang with only 15mins to go for MotoGP practice session. I took up position in the grandstand facing Turn 9 to get as much shot as I can.

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizios..


The Doc....

Last shot for the MotoGP series..


Moved over to the Turn 15 tower to catch the last practice session for the day: the 250cc..
As usual, the tower was crowded with photographers. This is a good spot to get good coverage especially if you do not have a long tele. 200mm is more than enough to fill the frame..

You get shots of the bikes entering Turn 15..




You get shots of the bikes in mid-corner...






And sometimes you get some overtaking moves..


And sometimes, the rider will check us out instead...

Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Championship Round 3

17th Oct



Round 3 of the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Championship took place in Putrajaya Water Sports Complex at Presint 6 last weekend on 17th and 18th Oct 2009.


This is my 3rd time attending this event at Presint 6. The first time in May was a blast as I was able to get some great shots. As a bonus, I was able to get onto the tow boat during Padiwat Jaemjan "Bomb" performance. Bomb is listed at World's Top 10 in WWA World Series.
(Pictures from May championship)

The June championship was a disappointment as there were some dragon boat and canoe events which pushed the wakeboarding run to take place very far away from the shore, limiting photo ops.

Thankfully, this time the event was held closer to the shore. Surprisingly, the numbers of photographers present was lesser compared to the previous 2 rounds. Maybe it's because of the Nikon show and DG Color event. And this time, I was able to get back onto the boat for the wakeboard event.

Some of the pictures I manage to took on Saturday...














Wakeboarding is not always about cool poses and spectacular moves. Sometimes pain comes into the picture.. Oouucchh!!




One of the contestant, Sasha Christian from Singapore, took up extra responsibility as performer for the support event. She is currently one of the top wakeboarder in Singapore.






The next event will be the IWSF Putrajaya Waterski World Cup to be held from 5th to 7th Nov '09. One of the must see event will the jump event; something not seen in the last 3 local championship.

Visit the official website for updates!!

Thunderbirds are GO!!!

3rd October



Despite the hangover from Friday night thanks to too much Hennessy, I woke up early and made my way to TUDM Subang for the Thunderbirds..

Apparently, lots of other Malaysian had the same idea...
After 30mins of traffic gridlock and a long detour, finally made it to the base..

Once inside the base, I can see the huge crowd already gathered. On the left side of the base, was this magnificent beauty...the Sukhoi Su-30MKM..


On the other end was the USAF Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon "Thunderbirds"..


And the huge transporter plane, the C17..


Close-up on the F-16...
A bit of a trivia: note the up-side down "5" marking on the plane. This indicates that this plane handles all the upside-down stunts during the show...


Immediately after take off, the Thunderbirds are already performing their the signature Diamond formation..




There are 6 planes in the squad but 2 will break off after take off and do a sneak pass, catching the crowd by surprise..




The first 4 planes will be in tight formation maneuvers such as formation loops and rolls or transitions from one formation to another....








Thunderbirds 5 and 6 meanwhile will perform solo maneuver such as fast passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls, and very tight turns.




The signature move by the solos are the 2 mirror formation: calypso pass and belly-to-belly..




The 2 solos will then join the main group in formation..








Another signature maneuver: The "bomb burst"..


The show comes to an end. Safe landing and return to base..