Chadstone VIP event - UPDATE

Yes, the specials for Chadstone VIP/shopping event is up. It's nothing interesting but might be useful if you're waiting for that particular item that is never on sale.

No offers in the flyer on Apple Store. As you might know, a new and the first Apple Store in Melbourne was just opened in Chadstone last Saturday. However, CompNow (the other store that sells Apple stuff) is on the list offering $100 off any Mac purchase on the day (except for Mac Mini) and $30 off Guitar Hero for Mac, so that's $129.95.

One interesting offer is from Coles. I don't think that Coles has participated before but tomorrow, there will be a 5% discount on merchandise. Not sure whether there is any restrictions on the items.

Anyway, the offers are available here on a pdf format.

Enjoy.

Chadstone's Spring Event

Yes, Spring is here and it's time for another round of sales. It seems compulsory to have a sale on every season of the year. Thankfully, Australia (and some other parts of the world) only have 4 seasons. If we have 12 seasons, we'll have a sale every month.

Anyway, getting back to the 'event'. Chadstone will be having its usual VIP shopping event. This will happen next week on Wednesday, 17th of September. It will start from morning until night time (9 am to 10 pm) so plenty of time to shop. There will be the usual discounts (up to 50% off) and drinks to give away (after 5 pm), and some other things, such as

• runway shows, hosted by Alex Perry at 4 pm and 7 pm
• free workshop on "How To Look Good Dressed" at 11 am
• Christopher Chronis parade at 4pm

If you're heading from the city, there's a free bus that goes straight to Chadstone (stopping along the way of course). You will need to book it so that you will get a seat. You will need to call 1300 558 686 to book.

Up until today, there is no detail on the specials yet. Probably in a couple of days.

picture from chadstoneshopping.com.au

Kylie's Concert

Kylie's back. Yes, Australia's most beloved singer is back. She just announced her tour for Sydney and Melbourne in December. She initially only had one concert in each city but like we all know that's just tactics by the promoter.

Her first concert sold out in 2 minutes according to reports. Soon after the second show was announced and that too sold out within minutes. Apparently it set a new record in ticket selling history in Australia.

Now, the third show has just been announced and tickets start selling this morning (9 am) and last time I checked, there were still tickets available. So, if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, now might be the time. Go and check out Ticketek here.

Other than Kylie, there are also a lot more artist coming this way (Australia). To name a few:

• Alicia Keys
• Jordin Sparks
• Colbie Caillat
  
• MGMT
• Billy Joel
• Lady Gaga
• Simple Plan
  

More information check out Frontier Touring website.

Big Bang ?

Well, this is definitely one news that wasn't covered until it's way too late. Do you know that yesterday, a bunch of scientists turned on a machine that might cause Armageddon ? This caused a lot of stress to at least one Indian girl who committed suicide fearing the world would end yesterday.

I must say, her fear was not really baseless. The scientists are going to fire up a few particles and then smash them together. Hence, simulating the big bang theory of how the universe began. They are also trying to find out whether there exist a jesus particle, the particle that started them all. It's only a hypothesis now.

Some other scientists are thinking that this might create a black hole which in turn going to swallow all of earth's contents. So far, everything looks alright though (I mean, I'm still typing). However, report says that the scientists have yet to collide the particle. They are just firing up particles now.

The first time I heard about this was on last Sunday. I was reading the papers and there was this story. It is not front page material and it is considered less important than the pregnancy of the Vice President daughter (from McCain camp). So, maybe it is not that important after all.

The facility is located on Geneva, Switzerland

If you want an explanation of how everything works, go to BBC here.

photos from bbc.co.uk

Ferrari Smash

Imagine getting a call from your son in the middle of the night with this message, "Dad, I've crashed your limited-edition Ferrari. You know, the one that is valued for about $400,000". OK, maybe not exactly like that but 'Ferrari' and 'smash' are two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence.

Well this happened to a very very very unlucky dad. His precious Ferrari was smashed (to a tree), just have a look at the picture above (right). On the left is the boy who crashed it and probably reporting the incident to his dad.

The Ferrari is a limited edition F360 Challenge Stradale, was imported 4 years ago. Only 16 cars are believed to be imported to Australia and New Zealand.

The cause of the crash is (obviously) speed. Probably the kid wanted to try "getting 80 in first gear" like the radio commercial of Melbourne Airport. But for whatever reason, it was a reckless thing to do.

Let's just hope that the dad pays his insurance.

picture from theage.com.au

Iron Man Review

Well, I watched Iron Man yesterday (thanks to Qantas) and it was alright (not great, just OK), typical action hero movie. I guess the first movie is always the most interesting part cause it tells you the beginning, what happened and how that 'hero' was created. This particular hero does not have super power (like Superman, Spiderman), he just have a super-brain that can develop a super-suit that has a lot of power.

The story line is pretty simple. Guy owns everything by selling weapons, get captured, given a taste of his own products, ran away from the captives (by building himself a man-suit), realise that there is other things to do in life besides selling guns and missiles, decided to stop the weapons production. Fiuh...and that's only the first part. The second part is about him creating the perfect body-suit to help people (by destroying missiles that he produced) then he was back-stabbed by his 'business partner' who creates a bigger suit for himself. They fought and at the end of the day, he won (and get the girl). Pretty simple right ?

Iron Man is played by Robert Downey Jr and his assistant is played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The villain is played by Jeff Bridges and Iron Man sidekick (in the Defence Force) is played by Terrence Howard.

One thing that was fascinating from this movie was the detail of the suit that was shown. Unlike Transformers, the transformation from a car to robot was instantaneous so you can not really look at it with great detail. But this movie was pretty detailed. All I can say is, this year, a lot of kids would want to be an engineer when they grow up.

If you like action hero type of movies (or Iron Man in particular) then go and watch this movie. The movies is packed with action and it's not boring (filled with drama like Spiderman), even managed to slip in a few jokes. I'd say it's alright (just because the story is so predictable) overall but my wife loved it and wants the DVD (or Blu Ray) when it comes out.

Standing Egg

Can an egg stand ? I just got a very interesting email that says eggs CAN stand, not everyday though. Apparently this phenomenon can only happen once a year, on a certain date. In 2006, it was the 31st May, the following year it happened on 19th of June. This year it's going to happen on the 8th of June. It's something to do with a Chinese festival or something like that.

Sounds impossible ? Have a look at the pictures below.

And again,

So, what do you think now ? Photoshop ? Maybe. I don't know the real answer as well. But come 8th of June 2008, I'm definitely going to try it and if it is a hoax, I'll let you know. If you want to try it, prepare the egg beforehand and don't put it in the fridge.

Grand Theft Auto 4 Out Today

If you're waiting for it, you would probably know that it's coming out today. Several retailers are even opening up at midnight (this morning) to cater for the fans that have pre-ordered or who wants to grab an early copy.

In Australia, the game is "censored" because the highest rating available is MA15+ for games. The detail of which part of the game is 'toned down' is still not clear. Because of this, several gamers are trying to import the game from US or UK so they get the 'uncensored' version, as the PS3 version is not region locked. Play-Asia has them for about US$70 delivered, details here.

Burnt copies of the game have appeared at torrent sites all over the world several days before the official launch date. It was the Xbox360 version and both Pal and NTSC version were seen around.

The retail price in Australia is $119.95 for standard edition and $149.95 for the special edition. The special edition comes with several 'goodies' like a bag, soundtrack for the game, deposit box, and so on. However, some retailers have already sold out of the special edition several weeks back.

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As for the best deals, BigW has the cheapest price at $78 and followed by JB Hifi which sells it at $84.87. This price are for both version of PS3 and Xbox360. Note that trade in is also available with JB Hifi.

Life Could Be a Dream

Tomorrow, your dream may come true. Well that's true if you're the winner of Super 7's OzLotto. It will jackpot to 40 million dollars. This is a result of nobody winning the first prize for the past 4 weeks. So, if nobody wins tomorrow then maybe it will be $50 million next week. This is probably the biggest draw ever (well, at least it's the biggest I've ever seen).

To get the cash, it's pretty simple, just pick 7 numbers between 1 and 45. Simple, right ? Well not really. If it's that simple, Australia would have a lot of millionaires.

So, if you feel lucky don't forget to get your ticket to dream. I'm definitely getting mine (to dream of course).

picture from Tattslotto