Heros, the one TV series that I am asking everyone to check it out. Of all that have watched the series, all loved it except my wife. To her, it was too many segments, too many flash backs, and the story line is a little slow, but, she still ask me for updates on what happened. I believe deep down, she love the show too.

Heros, is about how evolution have evidently set foot on present day humans. Genetic evolution to be exact, the few poses comic book super powers, ranging from flying, time travel, mind reading, spontaneous regeneration, up to the what the mind could imagine. Every other few episodes, there are new characters with new powers, and some characters killed of.

To date, its only up to Episode 13 on Season 1, and the plot thickens with no end in sight. There are surprises on every episodes, and what the TV does not show, it’s explained on the comic where NBC release through their official site. What’s interesting on this series is that it started with a glimpse of something bad going to happen in the future, and those who have realized their super powers are working to stop that from happening, and slowly, they start to meet each other and start to work together. However, they are still very unorganized, and still searching for answers and also the ability to control their powers. With the objective in mind, the show takes the audiences through a sequence of events that created more questions than answers, and this draws audiences like me more and more into the show.

This is the first time I see the entire season being stream online over the web. With adverts of course, I see this experimentation as a step forward in fighting illegal file sharing like torrents and also the first step to Internet TV. I could watch the entire series online, why would I want to torrent it illegally? Yea, we still have limitations, like only can view online and viewing pleasure is dependable on the internet speed, etc. I for one do not find the need to torrent it, to watch the latest episodes. One just need to go to the official site and point your browser to a US proxy (the studio wants to ensure only US can view the show for now), and whola, you can watch it.

The Official site is packed with interviews, side stories, and even characters blogs to depic their thoughts. Watch them in action, and then head to their blog to read more of their thoughts. Just another item to build an eco-system to fuel the fan’s never ending desire for this fictional story. I am still waiting to read what Hiro thinks of meeting his Father, ops, spoiler…

Back on the show, Heroes will premier on Star Wold Astro tonight, after American Idol. Don’t miss it. You’ll not regret your 1 hour spent on this premier. Its the beginning of an obsession that you wish you never started.

What other Bloggers think of this show:
Eye on Everything: Heroes Without Spandex
Lyn’s Blog: Heroes
Lost… In Translation: Almost Sick

Bukit Larut, is the post colonial name of Maxwell Hill, located right at the edge of Taiping town. The Hokkiens call the hill “Kopi Sua”, which means coffee hill. Not sure how this name came about, nevertheless, this sleepy hill is set to claim it’s place in history again. Taiping have its share of many first in Malaysia, starting from the first rail, to museum and even the first news paper were mention. This Everlasting Peace (Literal translation of Taiping) town can now boast to have the first Tulip farm in Malaysia. This should go into the Malaysian Book of Records, if it have not.

The tulip farm is located at Cendana Bungalow on Bukit Larut, and accessible through a government run 4wheel drive transport service. There is no booking ahead, and visitors will have to go early at 8am in the morning to buy tickets for the day. Visitors have to specify what time they want to go up and what time want come down and it cost RM4.00 per person round trip. If you are adventurous, you can option to hike up, which takes an average 2hrs 45 minutes (1 way), vs the 25 minutes Jeep journey.

The Tulip farm, is not like those abroad. It has a special air conditioned room for germination, and once the plant is mature, it will be brought to the greenhouse to bloom. The tulips also does not follow the usual spring cycle, instead, it blooms 2-3 months after plantation, and so in Malaysia, one can get tulips twice a year, one in December-February Period and the second in July. I visited the farm last Monday, and it is almost at the end of the blooming season. The keepers mention that the current batch of flowers are the last, and they will ship them out soon, so be quick to go if you want to catch this round. Else, just wait till July or end of the year in December to visit.

Bukit Larut have not changed in the past 20 years, except for the up-keeping and a new suspension bridge walk. It was the same when I went up as a kid, and it was the same when I brought my then girl friend there, and it was the same last Monday when I visited the tulip farm. The hill is full of greenery and a lungful of fresh air makes it the ultimate place to relax and forget the rat race. I must warn that this hill maybe a nature haven, it is also a dead boring place for the ipod generation youth. There is zero entertainment up in the hill, except for the fun of enjoying nature. My photos above is all the hill have to offer (click to view album), unless you are going up for bird watching, or staying at the bungalow, 2 hours is more than enough.

With the surge of new visitors because of the tulip farm, I sincerely hope the government will put in more effort to make the hill as a Green resort. The temperature and climate makes it perfect place to house many of the beautiful plants from the cold climate, and all the government have to do is to invest into growing them as what happens with the tulip farm. This can grow the hill and the Everlasting Peace town below. At the same time, it can still keep it’s green theme, without making it another Genting or Bukit Tinggi.

Oh, I forgot to mention, entrance to the tulip farm is RM1 for non-Tulip season and RM2 for Tulip Season. You can purchase the tulips, RM5 each and RM15 for a pot of 3 flowers. The tulips can last about a week, and have to be kept in a cool environment, ie, your kitchen/toilet, or air condition environment. It is great for the ladies, and since Valentine is coming up, you can still catch the end of the bloom season. I bought a pot for my wife last year, and she was surprised speechless and she loved it.

Haven’t found your passion in life? How about have a go at building your empire at Travian, a web based MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game), where you build your village, and then through upgrading your resources output and attacking other villages, you get to upgrade your village into a City and slowly into an empire that controls the Travian world. Unlike many MMOG, the web based Travian is a relatively slow game, where upgrading resources, or researches could take up to hours to complete. The same goes to attacking villages that are far away too.

This makes the game perfect for busy people or for those who do not want to spend too much time on games. One could option to be active, and stay with the online PC all day long, waiting for the resources to be completed or play on other worlds within Travian, or just log in at interval times, and do all the necessary upgrades or attacks, and leave it till you get the chance to log in again.

The objective is to built the biggest empire and alliance, and this wins you bragging rights. There is no cash nor any kind of award, just the satisfaction of winning the game. The game is free to play, however, if you want additional features, such as faster resources production or attacking advantage, one could option to purchase gold’s coins called Travian Plus that can be used for those purposes.

The game have a total of 6 servers and each have it’s own uniqueness. For example, Server 3 is a speed server, and so everything in Server 3 works faster, so if you are the person who spend all day online, you might want to have a go on the game at server 3. The game comes in 17 languages, and some of the languages have only one server.

Me and May Lin spent a couple of weekends playing the game. It is like playing our life away. Building, attacking, got raided, buid more, etc.. This occupies the whole of our weekend. Of course we were at the server 3, where everything just works at superb speed. The game is very much like life, we build up to a level, and before you go to the next level, suddenly you lost all your army to another stronger player, and start to build the army from scratch again. We practically wasted some good times on Travian, and I do advice not to start on this game. Once you start, you can’t stop.

Shanghai Ding, the house of Dumpling, is located next to the Queensbay Mall of Penang. This restaurant offers shanghai styled dim sums at a large price. The food selections are of any regular Dim Sum’s shop, and the food quality is average. The restaurant servers the famed “Siau Loong Pau” (dumpling) of Shanghai and offers them in meat, scallops and Crab. We ordered the Scallop dumpling and I did not find it that tasty and could not comprehend the fame. The restaurant also serve non-Dim Sum items like friend noodles, etc. Overall, the restaurant is slightly above average for its cleanliness, service. Average on food quality. And two thumbs down for the price.

Other food reviews of this same joint:

This is going to be an exciting year. Not that long ago I blog about the recent Toll Rates Increase and looks like no one is taking this one quietly. The opposition started an Anti-Toll hike Coalition and exposed the contract signed between the Government and Litrak, and….. sad sad… check out the highlights at Screenshots. Looks like there’s going to be lots of ‘Wayang’ to be seen this year.