As promised...Photos From Rafflesia+ABP 08/09 Award Ceremony | SEVENDAYS

Hi! Again, I am so sorry I could not find the time to update my blog more often these days. So many things to blog about BUT so little time to blog as well! Haha. Now you must be wondering if this is my new hair colour? Well it is not. I only had it for a day. Then why the hair colour you may ask? Hehe. Stay tuned. There is a really cool story behind it. Hehe. I'll blog & "story story" about that in a later post K?

Here with a friend of mine, Rozana of SEVENDAYS who sponsors some of the clothes you see me wearing in magazines. They're in Telawi 3, Bangsar & offers very affordable womenswear + menswear.

Be sure to check out SEVENDAYS!
Below are the photos I promised you guys.

Thank you Rafflesia & Anugerah Bintang Popular 08/09!!!

The Most Glamorous Male Award prize worth 10K from Rafflesia... not bad eh? Pearl ni akan menjadi hantaran gwe.

I like this photo.

With Winnie, the owner of Rafflesia

...were talking about my current projects...

I was the first prize winner to go on stage... so malu masa ni
With Alyah, my current crush... Hahaha :-p
All prize winners on stage.
Me, Rosyam Nor, Maya Karin, Nabil, Kak Cham, Dynas, Winnie, Stacy, Norkhiriah & a band member from Meet Uncle Hussein.

For more photos with Ayu, Jaclyn Victor, Maya Karin etc. CLICK HERE Lagi Gambar DI SINI

Thank you Rafflesia & ABP.

Just a quick update guys!
I won the Most Glamorous Male Award last night with a prize worth 10K from Rafflesia. I am so excited. LOL. Like a 3 year old kiddo. Like to thank Kak Cham & all the 'warga kerja' from Berita Harian! Photos from the event last night will be up soon. Cheers!

TQ Sponsors! I’m Going To Shoot Not One, but Two Music Videos. Need Ideas!

Happy Monday everyone!
I will be shooting two music videos soon. I welcome ideas especially for BERSAMA TOGETHER Ft. Nora Danish. You could email me your ideas to Izworkz@gmail.com by the end of this week or you could just leave any ideas here on my blog. If you have any ideas for GONNA BE ALRIGHT (Hui Hao De) that would be cool too. I will reveal the sponsors soon. So quick, keep the ideas coming yea!? TQ

IZ MOHON MAAF (IZ says sorry) | IMRAN AJMAINs Music Video Shoot: Behind-The-Scenes

How is everybody doing? Hope this long overdue post finds you well.
If any of you missed my GUA article entitled IZ MOHON MAAF (IZ says sorry) last week, click HERE for the full story. Many thanks to Khairie from Singapore for the heads up! If you guys have any questions, just ask me here & I will try answer it to the best of my ability K?

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Let me share with you guys an interesting anecdote from last week. I was invited to make a cameo appearance in a 50s inspired music video by the very talented & popular Malay singer-songwriter from Singapore, Imran Ajmain (I love your song bro!). I had to spend 12 hours (from 8PM till around 6AM) on the video shoot, which took place at Carcosa Seri Negara, KL. The photos below pretty much explain the whole 50s look.
Thanks to Bambang Soteto from Hairkunst (Hairkunst.com.my) for my 50’s hairdo! & Reen for arranging everything. Az, TQ for your time tooo!
What do YOU think of the 50s hair?? Be honest! Does it suit me?

Announcing ma Twitter's Nu Look! Thoughts? | Behind-The Scenes: Melbourne photoshoot on Flickr

C-Ch-Check-check it out! Gave my Twitter page a nu look since I am spending more time now on Twitter. Any thoughts?
CLICK HERE to "follow" me on Twitter now :-p

P/S: Also,
Take a look at the Behind-The-Scenes shots of the photoshoot I did in Melbourne with Tashkah from Tashkah Studios last March HERE on Flickr. Big thanks to Tashkah for sponsoring the photoshoot also the makeup artist! Got the link on my Facebook Fanpage last night from the assisstant photographer. TQ again guys! Lets do another one!

There Is No Better Time To Get Organised Other Than Now!

Hey guys!
As you can see my blog is going through some minor changes at the moment. If you look at the right hand side of this blog, you'll discover some of my Cover Stories. I am also going to reveal my Media Page filled with photos, articles, interviews pretty soon. I have prepared a separate link for purchasing my music online via Gua Muzik OR by ordering it directly from me. Send your email to Izworkz@gmail.com to purchase my EP NOW.

Worst come to worst, you will find that I will still be updating my Twitter status embedded in this blog. I am currently looking for someone who is able to collate all my online articles & its URLs into one place. Are you that person? If so, email Izworkz@gmail.com

P.S.
CLICK HERE to "follow" IZ on Twitter
CLICK HERE to "follow" IZ on Facebook

Thank U 4 the Birthday gifts guys! | Word of the day: NORMAL

Today, I was thinking to myself... How can the word

‘NORMAL’

exist in the same universe, in the same world as

‘INDIVIDUALITY’?

P/s: Thank you to Marcus & June for the birthday gifts! Received the parcel last Friday. Marcus, lovin' BURBERRY The Beat (You saw my performance on Youtube? Yep had to take it down) & June, I can't wait for you to send me the new CK Free Men once its out. Promise yeah? I still keep my CK One at my Melbourne apartment. Thanks to Micky who bought me Jessica Mauboy on iTunes... It's my current jam! Gloup, thanks for the Open Heart CD!

Get my EP for MYR15.50! | Daily Musings | Majalah MANGGA aka MANGO | Chic Pop: Samsung Ultra Touch! | In love with Jessica Mauboy

I've been enjoying my time relaxing at home more than going to events these days. I mean, you see the same faces everytime & there isn't much to talk about anymore really. I am trying to take better care of myself now. Exercise-sleep-exercise-eat. Popping heaps of junk food sometimes HeHe... well sometimes you gotta cheat! Put together a new plan/strategy for my career after much reflection on what I’ve done in the past 11 months in the local scene. I've been writing a lot... crap or not time will tell hehe. Met up with Najwa who was featured on Malique’s Ku Yang Punya for a possible collabo last week... so I'm looking forward to that one. I've been reading a lot too. Been thinking a lot on how I could better myself as a performer.
Been listening to heaps of new music. Currently I’m loving Boom Boom Pow by BEP, Been Waiting + Burn + Running Ft Florida by Jessica Mauboy (She is half Indonesian half Aborigin Aussie) & the new Brandy album. Really enjoyed Xmen: Wolverine, Night At The Museum 2, Yasmin Ahmad’s Talentime, Mist, 17 Again although Star Trek didn’t do much for me… yawned all the way through. It’s also mandatory for me to order a large salted popcorn whenever I go to the movies Nyummm! coz I’m quite the pig :-p

[More photos of me at Reneetay.com]

Went to Chic Pop: Samsung Ultra Touch! Event at The Apartment, KLCC last night. Saw many familiar faces. Well KL isn’t that big anyways. The theme was Black with a touch of Red.
So I wore this top that I bought when I was 13 years old & it still fits! It's a kiddie brand called FREEGO I got from Metrojaya. I'm not sure if the brand still exists. I saw PRADA did this tie dye thingy from their clothes to their bags to their shoes not too long ago :-p
Ayu OIAM2 & I will appear on MANGGA but I don’t know which issue it’ll be. Many have said that it is Malaysia’s no. 1 entertainment magazine even kat Singapore pun Majalah Mangga ni popular tau? Ha, jangan main2. So jangan lupa carik Majalah Mangga sebab IZ & Ayu ada bergambar bersama. IZ pernah masuk majalah ni 2 kali sebelum ni… krew2 Mangga mmg cool gile. Nak tau apa projek terbaru IZ, haaa… kene la baca kat dalam Mangga. IZ tak tulis semua info kat blog ni :-)
Last but not least, I like to thank you all for your birthday wishes... Really appreciate it! :-) I am officially one. Ha-ha
Looking forward to my writing session with AJ Pop Shuvit this coming Sunday. I’m very excited, as I’ve completed the lyrics today. I will also be doing CUCI The Musical workshop next week. I’m expecting to see the directors, bookwriter & musical director there… looking forward to that one too. Enjoy your weekend! OH! Purchase details of my EP is on the right side of this page. TQ!

I WAS BORN TODAY

Yep! 8th of June is my Birthday. I consider the number 8 as my lucky number. Why? I'll tell why later......

Can't wait to sail on SIDIQI | Miss Malaysia Universe Auction Party Performance @ Metropol Club | An Intimate Soiree by KAPAS Couture

Wow. Lama gile I x update kan?
I haven’t vanished from the surface of the earth yet OK? Still here! It’s just that currently I’m facing many life issues, been working on new tracks + doing a couple of other things which really limits my time to update this blog. If any of you noticed, I would always get my Twitter status updated no matter how busy. FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER. Have you ever been so busy or too caught up with work that you unknowingly starting to alienate your own family/friends? Well, that’s what happened to me. I’ve been trying to make up for ‘lost time’ with people whom actually matters to me plus catch up with friends I haven’t seen for awhile. Only recently, I’ve realised that dealing with incompetent people, skeptics & opportunists could take so much out of you… phew… it is not even funny people. I rather save my energy & time for something else, like planning a vacation for example. I am trying to find time to learn how to sail. Yep… IZ here wants to try out at being a sailor boy! Hehe.
Isn’t she beautiful? I am looking forward to sail on SIDIQI. It means ‘Friendship’ in Arabic. I can’t wait to be away from all the technology around me, and escape to the middle of the ocean where I could spend my nights looking at the stars and counting them to sleep. The first time in my life I really get to see a sky full of blinking stars was way back in 2004 on The Great Ocean Road. The last time I saw a blanket of stars was in ‘Tassie’ or Tasmania where I had the opportunity to even catch the Milky Way. It really was a magical sight. The stars looked as if I could pluck them off the skies myself. Truly a sight to behold. Sigh.
Last week, I was invited to perform at Miss Malaysia Universe 2008/09 auction party held at Metropol Club in KL. It was organised by Ms. Levy Li, the beautiful Miss Malaysia Universe 2008 the night before the pageant council announced their new 2009 queen. A dear friend of mine by the name of Cassandra Patrick is the 1st runner up for this year’s pageant & I’m so happy for her. Don’t give up yeah? This is just the beginning for you Cassie.

Also went to a very intimate & private soiree organised by Mr Kem Salleh of KAPAS Couture at his house where I met & hung out with Noryn Aziz, Syafinaz, Natasya Hudson plus others. Check out the food! LOL

It was good fun and the food was nyummo! I was asked to sing a song & I chose to sing Lullaby Birdland, which is a really fun simple song to sing. The party got really hilarious when Syafinaz chose to sing Time To Say Goodbye when the party was just getting started! LOL. Her singing as always was superb. Check the photos below.[Photos courtesy of Sam Kassim]

Opening Performance for HairKunst hairshow @ The Curve Fashion Week 2009 | Bambang Soteto | Siti Sarah Raisuddin & Bob AF | Hairdreams

Checkout the YouTube video of my performance below

I like to thank those who saw my opening performance last Sunday @ The Curve Fashion Week 2009 closing party. Thanks guys! To those who can’t make it no worries! I got all your messages on my Myspace, Facebook, Friendster & ChannelV Amp. I had heaps of fun performing with Sarah Raisuddin & Bob. They were fantastic as usual. I felt so happy when I got invited to open & perform for my hair sponsor, HairKunst who helped me maintain this ‘Durian-tajam2-it-can-hurt-ya!’ hairstyle that I got now in KL for the past year. I also had this really expensive blue hair extensions from Europe called Hairdreams, attached to the back of my head for the show. No-No! I am not having it on as my new permanent hairstyle LOL! The very well known Bambang Soteto, owner of HairKunst (also Bachelor #4 on this year’s Cleo's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors) is the guy responsible for cutting, trimming and cleaning my hair whenever I need it. I have not met any hairdresser in KL who could exactly give what I want or how I want it, unlike Bambang. Bambang have heaps of experience as a hairdresser whilst living and working in Europe for so many years. I forgot what HairKunst actually means but I was told that it is German. Oh! He did all the AF kids hair too!

[Backstage b4 the show]

Bambang told me in the past that many have asked him for my hairstyle & it actually made me feel a tad bit embarrassed when I got to know about it. I thought it was hilarious to imagine people would actually bring my photo to their hairdresser to get a hairdo like mine LOL. I mean, why would anyone in his or her right mind thought my hairstyle is attractive? Har har har! Check out HairKunst. An interesting anecdote: My minus one skipped towards the end of the song when I had to do a long note, which forced me to elongate that long note with not much breath left! Luckily nobody really noticed it :-p Phew! Only my manager & my songwriting partner, AJ Pop Shuvit and now YOU GUYS!

Last but not least, do not forget to VOTE! The closing date is nearing its end! Voting details below:
1st) Register with RAKAN BH. Type BH [space] DAFTAR [space] Nama [space] Nombor IC send to 32728
2nd) VOTE by typing: BH [space] ABP [space] 47 [space] RAFFLESIA & send to 32728
TQ!

Next Performance: The Curve Fashion Week 2009 (Tomorrow - Sunday, May 17th)

Just a quick update.
If any of you guys happen to be at The Curve Damansara tomorrow (Sunday, May 17th ), don’t forget to catch my public performance of my new song called A.L.O.N.E for The Curve Fashion Week 2009. There will also be performances by Bob AF & Sarah Raisuddin. Hope to see some of you guys there Performance details as below.

Details
The Curve
Sunday May 17th 6PM sharp/ Ahad 17 Mei 6 petang

Gareth Pugh + Matthew Stone UK | UTUSAN’s Pencarian Kacak Bergaya | Next Public Performance: The Curve Fashion Week 2009, Sunday May 17th

Well!

It was only last weekend that I went to the Malay version of CLEO Bachelor, UTUSAN’s Pencarian Kacak Bergaya Finals (No no, I am not one of the contestants LOL, Not Kacak & Bergaya enough) held at Saloma Bistro on Pancaindera’s invitation (Thank U Pancaindera!). Had the chance to meet up with HUZZ (a writer I really admire), Sarah Raisuddin, Bob, Shila, Raja Azmi, Dior (I’m not joking his name really is Dior!), Azmira plus many others. Don’t ask me who was the winner. I have no idea… hehehe. My mind was elsewhere.

[Shila & IZ]

[Siti Sarah Raisuddin, Azmira, Dior, Kenji & IZ]

But my weekend highlight was none other than witnessing Gareth Pugh + his bud, Matthew Stone's appearance as guest DJs @ Zouk last Saturday. The two literally walked in front of me on their way to the turntable decks with their posse! I am not a clubber, as you all well know. First, I don’t even smoke (Smoking is so very uncool these days, kids, if you’re thinking of trying DON’t start. Show me a healthy looking smoker if you know one Pleasezz?) & I always try to avoid being around people who smokes or even go to smoky places such as Zouk… hahaha… (I know. I’m anal) But when I learnt that Gareth Pugh was going to be at Zouk, I couldn’t just give that opportunity a miss… Thanks to (Molly) Zouk for including me on their supertight guest list.There’s a reason why I love Gareth Pugh so much. I completely adore the clothes he designs. They are very very unique works of art & has that futuristic, edgy feel to it. It might not be your cup of tea… & it is really out there. I also find his steadfast rise to be absolutely positive & inspirational. How he struggled to get to where he is now. Only until recently, he was still a poor young man. Many adores his designs but many also doubt about its commercial appeal. Nevertheless, many artistes have started to wear his designs such as Beyonce & Kylie Minogue (He designed Kylie's stage outfits for her last tour). That my friend is what you call, PERSEVERANCE. There are rumors going around that LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy - a luxury goods conglomerate) will be replacing Kris Van Ashe with Gareth Pugh to design for Dior Homme! I hope this will come true. I'm a hardcore Dior Homme fan. I never really liked Dior Homme during Kris Van Ashe reign as their designer (Which is why I stopped purchasing it). I don’t think he is doing a good job after he took over from Hedi Slimane, whose designs I absolutely love! ZOMG I am so excited. Enough about this fashion talk… Check out Gareth Pugh’s clothes to find out what I am talking about. :-) (His friend Matthew Stone always DJs for his shows FYI) Oh! He closed the DJ set with my fav Xmas song, All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey... ROFL :-)

[Gareth Pugh designs on the runaway- KOOL right?]You guys dah UNDI hari ni? hehehe. Have you voted today? The closing date is at the end of this month. VOTE now and you will stand a chance of winning gorgeous jewelry pieces courtesy of Rafflesia for yourself, your mum or your girlfriend. Voting details as below. TQ!

HOW TO VOTE?/UNDI? (closing date: May 31st)
1st) Register with RAKAN BH. Type BH [space] DAFTAR [space] Nama [space] Nombor IC send to 32728
2nd) VOTE by typing: BH [space] ABP [space] 47 [space] RAFFLESIA & send to 32728

VOTE AS MANY AS U CAN OK? Thank you so much.


NEXT PUBLIC PERFORMANCE:
If you missed my opening performance for Fashion On 1 @ OU last month, fret not. Checkout my next performance @ The Curve Fashion Week this coming Sunday, May 17TH [I'll confirm the time soon!!!]

PoA (People Of Asia) | Calvin Klein Launch @ KLCC | IDAN The fashion Photographer | Meeting Yasmin Ahmad 6 years ago | Have You Voted?

The kind people at PoA invited me to checkout their store last week but I only had the time to visit the store yesterday afternoon at PAVILLION with my manager. It’s been awhile since I went there. People of Asia or PoA is a Singaporean clothing company offering male/female clothing lines designed by Singaporean & Korean designers. All the designs are slim cut (which means it’ll fit me) & they offer an amazing range of looks available in basic colours (+ bow ties, shoes, belts). Price? Super affordable. Noice Proice!

[Vest + Hooded Top from PoA]

The look & feel of the store is very Japonaise I thought. So yeah, I made my pick & wore it to a Calvin Klein fashion event @ KLCC last night. I wore this grey vest over a hooded white top (all from PoA) paired with my Claude Maus harem pants & my white Calvin Klein sneakers (Gotta show support to the organisers man :-p) to give the whole look a more casual feel. Many thanks to PoA for sponsoring my outfit yesterday :-)
A bit on Idan: IDAN is a young & talented upcoming Malaysian photographer who hasn’t even finished college yet but has been lucky enough to have worked with Malaysia’s top fashion models such as Tengku Azura. It is clear from his portfolio that fashion photography is his main passion but I reckon he photographs other objects equally well too. Check out his works HERE. He was kind enough to photograph me & post me these shots at the Calvin Klein event last night. Thanks man!
I was also lucky enough to finally meet Yasmin Ahmad (Malaysia’s top filmmaker) again last night. I haven’t met her for like (counting fingers) 6 years since I interned (and even acted LOL pak pacak je) on one of her Petronas TV commercials called 'Param Tricycle' with my pals, Emily Ismail, Zehan, Kamalia Musa & actor Baizura Kahar (Who won Best Female Actress for a Film in Anugerah Skrin last year in Khabir Bhatia’s SEPI. Baizura told me that she has since quit from being an actor. At least she ended her acting career with a BANG! by winning an award. So proud of her.)

[From left: A student from China, Baizura Kahar, Yasmin Ahmad, IZ (me!!!), Emily Ismail]

Anyway back to the story, Yasmin has just finished her first film called RABUN (Falling eyesight) when she agreed to let my team & I do our internship with her on a Petronas TV ad. I remembered Yasmin’s PA explaining to us that Yasmin is a very busy person & that she could only spend 30minutes max for our initial meeting. We were young & anxious but Yasmin was so kind & accommodating that she ended up spending 2 hours with us instead (probably she enjoy spending time with us smart talented kids so much! LoL). Yasmin were kind enough to share RABUN with us at her Leo Burnett office. I remembered how we felt lucky to be the first few to see the movie before it was released to the masses. I even remembered sharing a duet of ‘The Prayer’ LOL with Yasmin underneath a kampung house in Sekinchan during production break of the Petronas TV commercial. It was heaps of fun. Now Yasmin Ahmad got like more than 3 movies under her belt with the latest being TALENTIME which I thought is a brilliant movie even when many of my friends locally & abroad didn’t think so…. But again art is subjective… different people have different takes on different things & for me it is all very exciting to hear them. Oh well.

I was quite undecided as to whether I want to put old photos of myself or not but what the hell… here you go! Go on! Laugh! Hahahahahahhahahahha

[Clockwise: Yasmin's Leo Burnett Office/ Preproduction meeting with the director, Kamal/ Emily Ismail & I/ Baizura Kahar, Emily Ismail & I. I got a part as someone injured. LOL. I even had fake bruises painted on me! So cool]

[Miller, one of the actors in the TVC. Miller had a small part in SEPET where he had a fight with Amani in one scene when she angrily kicked a ball towards him. Miller is now a well-known actor in Indonesia. I found out about this when I met up with his previous Indonesian manager during my Jakarta trip last February 2009]

[You can see Yasmin Ahmad busy texting... BUT if you look carefully in the center you can see me, the boy who's filming the whole preproduction meeting 6 years ago... hehehe!]

Have You Voted/UNDI Me Today?
I sound like a PSA already. Voting details are available on the right side of this page or if you scroll down to my previous entry. Thank you!!! Muah!

VOTE/UNDI IZ OIAM for MISI MENCARI PEREKA POPULAR Berita Harian | KOSMO! Newspaper Article | GUA Muzik article

[Photo courtesy of GUA Muzik - IZ, Farah Asyikin, Stacy & Dato' Siti Nurhaliza]

How're you guys doin'? Check out what the GUA fashion team thought of what the celebs were wearing during the ABPBH08/09 red carpet in Genting just by clicking the link above to see if you agree with them or not. Don't forget to also VOTE for me, for MISI MENCARI PEREKA POPULAR simply by SMSing your VOTES.

HOW TO VOTE?/UNDI? (closing date: May 31st)
1st) Register with RAKAN BH. Type BH [space] DAFTAR [space] Nama [space] Nombor IC send to 32728
2nd) VOTE by typing: BH [space] ABP [space] 47 [space] RAFFLESIA & send to 32728

VOTE AS MANY AS U CAN OK? Many thanks guys :-)’
Here's another recent article of mine from KOSMO! out a few days ago [CLICK HERE TO READ]

AIM16 | One In A Million 3 Grand Finale - Tomok Won | Sarah Raisuddin & Bob AF made it to WCOPA! | Wanna win exclusive jewelry from RAFFLESIA?

I am so happy for my dear friend Sarah Raisuddin who is one of the four best vocalists chosen last night to represent Malaysia in Hollywood for WCOPA (World Championship of Performing Arts) & the other is Bob AF who showed off real vocal chops! Congrats to both! I hope to try out next year :-) I called Sarah during the live telecast on TV2 to check if I’ve missed her performance & she said that I missed her 1st but she’d be performing for the 2nd time. I wished her luck b4 her 2nd performance. Sarah, you inspire me my friend.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

Dear kind readers, would you like to try your chance at winning exclusive jewelry from Rafflesia worth thousands of Ringgits? IF YOU DO, Malaysia’s current hot fashion designer, Hatta Dolmat, Sarah Raisuddin & I really need your help to VOTE for us in Berita Harian’s Mission to Find The Most Popular Designer (Misi Mencari Pereka Popular). How to do it? Please follow the instructions below. Thank you so much! Muah muah!

Cara mengundi sangat mudah. FIRST, register dulu:

Pertama, Daftar sebagai Rakan BH, dengan SMS
BH[space] DAFTAR[space]Nama[space]Nombor IC send ke 32728
Contoh: BH DAFTAR ALI 880608326476 send to 32728

SECONDly, Selepas Daftar Rakan BH,

UNDI/VOTE dengan menaip
BH ABP 47 RAFFLESIA

hantar ke 32728

pastu,
BH ABP 45 RAFFLESIA

hantar ke 32728
UNDI JANGAN TAK UNDI OK? TQ IT’S ALL IN YOUR HANDS (How very CELCOM of me :-p)

I am aware that this is a very long entry but fret not. I got heaps of photos just for you guys from the recent OIAM3 & AIM16 events respectively. I truly enjoyed all three performers –Aweera, Esther & Tomok – during the One In A Million 3 Grand Finale night performance.

I reckon all three are already winners in their own right & all three of them will have a promising career in the Malaysian music industry once they carve out their own niche, which sometimes may take some time. Again I was inspired to see all of them perform & they were so good to enjoy live! In fact, I learnt a lot just by watching them that night & the feeling of inspiration I got that night was indescribable.

[Hatta, She & I. The top three finalists looked nervous, waiting for the final results. Tomok AKA Shah Indrawan won!]

[Shila & I - We didn't plan our outfits. What coincidence! LOL]

I was lucky enough to meet them personally, shook their hands & even congratulated them myself. Don’t believe me? Here is a photo of Aweera, Tomok & I during AIM16’s post party last Saturday taken by popular local publicist Bill Bora (Thanks Bill!)

[Aweera, Tomok AKA Shah Indrawan & I @ AIM16 Post Party]

[Suki, Dina, Najwa, Elvira, Abg Bard from SRC, Kenji Luthfee, Sam Kassim (Noryn's Manager-Thanks for the photo!) & I @ AIM16 Post Party]

It was my 1st time attending Anugerah Industri Muzik 16 (AIM16) last Saturday & boy was I impressed with the performers especially the way these performers with different genres of music are put together to form somewhat a spectacular show in my opinion. Popular bands, HUJAN & Meet Uncle Hussein gel so well together on stage! I enjoyed them the most! Another interesting anecdote: I’ve walked many red carpets & went to many black tie events before but that night I got to walk the Blue Carpet (The event was fully sponsored by CELCOM), which I thought, was interesting.

[Awal Ashaari, Kak Lina (Awal's Manager), Hot momma Nora Danish & I @ AIM16 After Party]

As usual all artistes dressed up to the nines but not all followed the dress code set by the organiser that night. I thought it says Black Tie on the invitation card? Macam ni I pun wanna wear anything I like lah next time! Ha-ha-ha! Traditionally for black tie events, the ladies are the ones who get to shine with their usually glamorous outfits NOT the guys. It wasn’t the case last night. One of my fans (Zana- Fashion Student) who also went to AIM16 told me via Facebook that she saw someone who wore head to toe in flaming red as if it's Chinese New Year & was later ‘crowned’ Worst Dressed this morning on NTV7’s The Breakfast Show (which I missed :-( by GLAM magazine’s fashion police (Alex Eu, GLAM Editor- Wirda Adnan, KAPAS owner- Kem Salleh, Mansor). Yikes! I takut ngan fashion police! Huhuhu (Anybody has a copy of The Breakfast Show May 4th 09? Just wanna know who they mentioned because you get to learn from mistakes made by others right?)Thank goodness I followed what the invitation card said, ‘BLACK TIE’. There's a reason why organisers of such events set a dress code for all to follow. Oh well. Dress Codes aside, check out the bow tie I wore to AIM16. It have got buckels on the sides. Cool eh?

It's an S&M inspired bowtie specially designed for me by Avis Sim from Avvisuar New Zealand. Avis hails from New Zealand & is currently lecturing at Raffles International College Kuala Lumpur. I specifically told the talented Avis I wanted to give a subtle BUT interesting twist to my Dior Homme suit which I paired with my black patent leather shoes from Hermes & my Patek Philippe.

[THE AFTER, AFTER PARTY! Hisham Al Bakri, Aishah Sinclair, Kenji Luthfee & I at ARISTO Zouk. I went there to hang out with Aishah & Sazzy afterwards to support DJ NasTy who spinned groovy music in the background]

Guys, please VOTE for us OK? Terima kasih daun keladi or keladeeee.
Hatta Dolmat wrote on his blog & I quote: “Rafflesia selaku penaja hadiah utama tahun ini memberikan anda hak untuk memiliki set barangan yang bernilai ribuan ringgit. Jadi? apa tunggu lagi?? UNDIlah!! rekaan SARAH RAISUDDIN dan IZ OIAM!”

KLUE Magazine short interview.

While waiting for my updates, you guys can checkout this link to a short question & answer between KLUE Magazine [click here] & I last January. I didn't know it's available online ! (Thanks Misha)

Performing A.L.O.N.E | A Cut Above 30th Anniversary | CLEO Bachelor 09 | GUA Muzik Interview | OIAM3- Aweera, Esther or Tomok?

Before I go on with my latest updates, I just like you guys to know how happy I am to get so many positive feedbacks on my latest yet to be released new single, A.L.O.N.E which I have performed live 3 times now. The many comments on my FACEBOOK page have been nothing short than encouraging. I am also very happy that a couple of my long time silent readers have finally ‘surfaced’ to tell me how much they love the song & some have even become official followers of this blog. TQ so much guys! (I hope more of my silent readers say hi to me too! Yes I am talking to you LOL).

............................................

I’d like to thank those who came to support me at the event I opened recently. I really appreciate it & I am glad you like my new songs especially A.L.O.N.E. Thanks for the feedback! Below is a YouTube footage of me performing A.L.O.N.E at the event I talked about previously which I had to take down for reasons I couldn't explain here. THANKS FOR YOUR CONCERN. SORRY GUYS.

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To those who asked regarding A.L.O.N.E's radio debut … Be patient yeah? The wait will be over soon. The right time & moment is just around the corner. Kene sabar dulu yek? Good things come to those who wait (I'm telling that to myself too! Haha!) I will also update you guys on my future live performances ONLY if I am allowed to invite you guys & write about it. So keep checking out this space yeah? (To keep updated, be a FOLLOWER by clicking FOLLOW on the right side of this blog) Other than that, you can also follow me on TWITTER or my Facebook Fan page to get access to my performance videos & more! Hehe. Oh! I like to say hi to my Indonesian readers (esp. in Jawa Barat) as well! Makasih Yaaa? Some of you left comments in my Cbox & I really appreciate it! Gwe happy banget!

Anyhow, as I have mentioned in my previous post, I actually felt like superman the night I had to rush from A Cut Above 30th Anniversary Gala @ Mid Valley to the CLEO Bachelor event @ Zouk. So yeah, this is what I look like earlier that night for A Cut Above Gala Party…

[In this photo: Ben Ibrahim, Idan, Joyce & I]

And this is what I changed into for CLEO Bachelor @ Zouk. I went there to support my cousin, Moe Nasrul who is Bachelor #6 on CLEO’s 2009 list. Although he didn’t win anything, he surely looked like he had heaps of fun. I did too. Just want you guys to know that Moe has his own radio show on FlyFM during weekends. To find out more, say hi to the guy on his blog yeah? Tell him IZ sent you. LOL.

[In this photo: Me, Ben Ibrahim, Kenji]

[In this photo: Henny, Renee, Hisham, Swen, Moe Nasrul & I]

Will update you guys on my Gua Muzik article later. I am attending the One In A Million 3 Grand Finale TONIGHT. OMG! Who will win 1Mil Ringgit this time? Is it Aweera, Esther or Tomok? I reckon the OIAM3 lineup is much better than my year! LOL. That’s all! I will upload more photos to this post soon. Waiting on people. Zzzz.

OK! Red Carpet Interview Footage | Show tomorrow, please come!

Woke up early this morning & received a link to a red carpet interview footage of me with OK!Magazine at their 3rd Anniversary Party last year! LOL. Just made me realise how time easily slips through your fingers & just flies... & flies…

CLICK HERE for the footage.

TONGUE IN CHIC

A fan found this photo of mine @ www.tonguechic.com (Thanks heaps Christine!) from the Fashion On 1 Gala Party. Coincidentally, I met the Managing Editor of the site herself known to many as Ms Joyce Wong yesterday at A Cut Above 30th Anniversary held at Mid Valley prior to attending CLEO Bachelor at Zouk (Two events wit two dress codes! I felt like superman cos I had to change in the car whilst being driven). Will write my entry about last night soon so keep checking yeah?

I opened Fashion On 1 Gala Night with a live performance of A.L.O.N.E | Atilia & Sarah Raisuddin

Happy gile bila dapat buat persembahan pembukaan untuk Fashion On 1 Gala Night malam semalam... I am so happy I got the opportunity to open for Fashion On 1 by performing my 2009 English single, A.L.O.N.E. The feedback I got from the audience/guests were encouraging plus I got to introduce Atilia (Who performed after me & I called her Malaysia's Jazz Babe :p) & Sarah Raisuddin (My OIAM2 buddy) who performed after Atilia. Catch a snippet of my performance on YouTube now: Will upload more photos very very soon!

[In this photo: Me, Levy, Belinda, Kenji][In this photo: Amylea & I. I went for a photoshoot earlier in the day @ the UTUSAN studio prior to my Fashion On 1 opening performance yesterday...was surprised to see Amylea in the make up room, TIME 2 click3X hehe][In this photo: Cristina & I went for a drink at One Utama after the event... phew so panas yesterday. Sudah tak tahan]

[Went for an interview on Wanita Hari Ini the day before]

I have to run now. Till the next entry... tata! Oh! I like to thank my aunt from Kota Damansara, Mak Itam who let my management & I change at her place yesterday. TQ! hehehehe

Performing A.L.O.N.E 2day @ Fashion On 1, Fashion Gala 1 Utama Shopping Centre

Hey guys!
Come check me out today as I will be performing my new English single, A.L.O.N.E @
Venue: LG Floor Oval, 1 Utama Shopping Centre
Date: Thursday, April 23rd 2009
Time: 7.00PM onwardsP/S: This is my 2nd LIVE performance of A.L.O.N.E. Thank you to those who sent me their feedbacks on my acoustic performance of CINTA AKHIR yesterday on WANITA HARI INI. Looking forward to meeting some of you guys later!
Cya!

SAKSIKAN PREVIEW 'CINTA AKHIR' VERSI AKUSTIK di WANITA HARI INI TV3

CATCH ME ON WANITA HARI INI TODAY, WEDNESDAY/RABU 11.45PAGI APRIL 22ND ONLY ON TV3

IZ OIAM2 - A.L.O.N.E. Sneak Peek | WANITA HARI INI TOMORROW

This is a YouTube video of me taken on my last Melbourne trip back in March 09'. I previewed my new song. Can't wait to release it! I am considering of Vlogging now, compared to Blogging because I don't have to write!, I mean type (Who writes anymore these days? I know I don't. Do you? Last time I wrote was with a pen filling up my aircraft passenger card. I can't even remember how my handwriting look like...LOL).

Oh back to Vlogging, all I need to do is speak to the camera which I am very comfortable at doing but on the other hand... I can only Vlog when I think I am looking fly! (GEEZ. I know what you're thinking!) Mr Adrian Miles from LabSome RMIT University (A research lab I was part of during my uni days) introduced Vlogging to members of the research lab (me included) way back in 06'. DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO VLOGS?

UPDATE: CATCH ME ON WANITA HARI INI TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY 11.30AM APRIL 22ND ONLY ON TV3

IS LOOKING CONVENTIONAL GOOD FOR MALAYSIA? REALLY?

I am currently caught in between many different dilemmas at the moment (Di Persimpangan Dilema – Nora LOL). Just things random people say to me that made me think. For e.g. Should I blog in English or Malay? OR should I just write in both? Will writing in Malay increase my readership & help me reach out to a new fan base because they could “relate” to me more? Should I cut my hair shorter? Should I change it altogether? Some people think it’s cool & some said it is too ‘Individual’ that it limits me & makes me look NOT adaptable/ accessible. Some say I should have different hairstyles to suit different occasions. What should I do? I love wearing bow ties more than ties, should I ditch them for a more ‘accessible’ normal look? Many told me to tone down my dressing. Many asked me to keep it up. Many noticed me because of the way I carry/ dress myself. I don’t think I have worn anything ‘loud’ or ‘out there!’ in fact nothing I’ve worn so far can be classified as crazy. Some say my dressing is too ‘tasteful’, too ‘clean-cut’, too high fashion for Malaysia & that I should tone it down by wearing more t-shirts, washed out jeans, sneakers, conventional haircut, looking more street. Will it make me more relatable? Does looking like everybody else out there makes me more accessible? Maybe I have yet to find the balance. Is Looking Conventional Good for Malaysia?

WHO SHOULD I LISTEN TO? Quincy Jones was once asked regarding what was his secret to success and he answered, “Frankly, I don’t know what is the recipe to success, but I do know the recipe to failure is when you try to please everybody”. Do you guys think this quote is applicable in Malaysia? If you guys have anything to suggest please go on the comment page & comment away yeah? Thank you so much.

P/s: Below is some of the recent stuff I went to after winning Best Dressed Male at the recent ABPBH2008/09. I’ve been on Berita Harian 4 times in the past seven days alone! LOL. And that is only on B.Harian, pls do alert me if u see me somewhere else :-)

Discussing with a team of designers from (XXX) They took my measurement & you guys may wonder for what? Hehehe will spill the beans in later posts yeah?
The fab team from left: Madeline, Syarifah, Me & Avis :-)Henry Golding & friend, Kenji & I at Davidoff's store launch recently. The food was so good.... I wonder who were the caterers. We all shared a fun time at the event.
We were clinking our desert because it was so good. Henry and I kept stuffing ourselves with the food... Keep em' coming. LOL

Today in Berita Harian. [Updated scans of related news article from Hatta Dolmat's blog]

[New photos from Hatta Dolmat's blog]

HASIL kerja kreatif pada pakaian yang digayakan oleh Zizie rekaan Sya Syaharani (dua dari kiri), manakala IZ (tiga dari kiri) daripada Hatta Dolmat masing-masing menjadikan mereka dipilih sebagai Pereka Terbaik pada ABPBH 2008.

Read more here,
http://www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Wednesday/Hip/20090415063659/Article/index_html

Zizie & I in Harian Metro today.

There is a full-page photo of Zizie Ezette & I in today's Harian Metro for winning Best Dressed Female & Male at last Sunday's Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian 2008. I am so happy for the designer, Hatta Dolmat. We gonna be sharing prizes from Rafflesia worth RM10K woohoo! Thanks to B.Harian & Rafflesia!

Link: http://www.hmetro.com.my/Current_News/myMetro/Tuesday/Rap/20090414095815/Article/index_html

LOL! I won Best Dressed Male @ last night's Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian 2008 in Genting Highland. LOL!

[Mahesh Jugal Kishor from Yasmin Ahmad's latest TALENTIME Movie, IZ (me) + Jazzy Sazzy]

[Dafi Akademi Fantasia + I. Ainul (Histeria) & Mahesh sat behind us]

[Hatta Dolmat, the guy who designed my winning outfit for this year's ABPBH08. Thanks a lot Hatta! Hatta never really design for menswear so I felt lucky to be chosen as his male 'muse' *ehem* the first! & we won!]

[The lovely & funny Aishah Sinclair. She always have funny things to say to me each time we meet!]

[Marsha Londoh of Akademi Fantasia (her phone matches her dress, kewl]

[I got this photo of Riz & I in my email today taken by NST journo, Dennis Chua. Thanks Dennis! He asked Riz & Iz to pose for his camera... LOL]

"FINE! I’LL BE TWITTERING!" IZ, Twitter newbie.

Most of my friends have been blabbing about it, telling me I should ‘get with the program’ & is bloody on it every single day, so after much thought I’ve decided to hop on the bandwagon too... twittering along just like everybody else. As a good netizen, I felt like I’ve done my part LOLs. So yeah, what should my first TWITTER status message be? (Thinking to myself hmmm)


Checkout my Twitter above @ the right side of this page! I have had doubts about Twitter in the past especially with what it is capable of & how it has caused what I’d call TWITTER TROUBLES since it's inception haha. Yep that’s right, that is what I'll be calling mine which coincidentally is a title of a song I am currently working on at the moment: TWITTER TROUBLES. Anyhow, if you picked yourself a copy of Berita Harian yesterday, you’d spot a full page article & photo of Hatta Dolmat, Shila and I in the HIP section of the paper which among all discusses how Shila & I feels about wearing Hatta’s creations to ABPBH2008 tomorrow. READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

[Wan Zaleha Radzi & friend, Me, Wirda Editor of GLAM, Syafinaz, Kem Salleh]

[in this photo: Syafinaz, Nora Danish, Chef Wan, Camelia, Kem Salleh, Adrina, Izrin Iz, Zaireen, Haflin]
Other than that, the past week have been really really hectic for me with events & shows where I actually had to skip some just so that I could squeeze in a good rest in between. There was the GLAM’s 5th Anniversary held at KLCC (which was a blast, met so many friends), Royal Selangor Product Launch (went straight after GLAM), STYLO Fashion Week (Truly enjoy it! particularly in love with Beatrice Looi's work), Raffles International College Student Show (Fantastic designs from the graduates), Cleo Bachelor Candidate #X Sultan Lounge Party (Nice fit out. You have to take the lift to the basement as it is an underground exclusive lounge), F1 & many others.

[In this photo: Moe Nasrul, Me, Aina, C.Loco]
Guys, from now on... If you don’t find me blogging, you’ll find me twittering! So do me a favour now please... Click above to follow me on Twitter and also this blog.

[In this photo: Renee Tay, Hisham Al Bakri, Me]

[In this photo: Moe Nasrul, Jennifer Lee, Kem Salleh, Elynn Leong]

[In this photo: Shila OIAM2, Nora Danish, Betty, Anggun,Shereen,Intan Baizura,Saniboey & wife]

I HUNG OUT WITH ANGGUN YESTERDAY! Yay! | STYLO Fashion Grand Prix KL 2009 'The Devil Wears....'

WROTE THIS ENTRY QUICKLY WHEN I GOT HOME YESTERDAY
I am so happy right now. AT LAST! ZOMG… today is like the happiest day for me when I actually get to hang out with my idol, Anggun Cipta Sasmi or better known as ANGGUN after being a hardcore fan for so long since 1997! I practically grew up listening to her & watching her videos. I got all her CDs/ Vinyls/ Videos/ French versions of her songs (as pictured) & I got it all signed today by none other than Anggun herself. Happy giler! Thanks to Abang KC Ismail from Metadome for organizing my meeting with Anggun, my favorite chanteuse! I was myself; talkative as ever and yeah asked Anggun so many questions from her newborn to her past collaborations until the latest [I am a hardcore fan so I know, gotta show off my knowledge] hehe! Told Anggun that she is my inspiration in music & how I love the many positive messages she delivers in her songs from the 1st album until the latest, ELEVATION which is a totally different album from what she is used to doing. I was a lot younger when I saw Anggun live for the 1st time at Hardrock Café KL, probably like 7 years ago & I was so in awe when I caught her latest showcase at Hotel Istana last Friday, which was more like an appetizer for her latest release. Even though she only performed 5 songs acoustically, it was so good & I was speechless.

I asked, “Susah tak belajar bahasa Peranchis?/ Is French an easy language to learn?” to which she replied, “Sangat mudah jikalau dibandingkan dengan Bahasa Jawa./ French is easier than Javanese” LOL! Anggun’s newborn & hubby is also with her in KL now & today (Monday) is her last day before she proceeds to Bangkok tomorrow (Tuesday). I told Anggun that I am aware that she has many fans from all over the world & that I have to compete with them [LOL] but I told her I may be one of the few who made contact with people who have worked with her in the past & also her friends (Her face went mmm?????) LOL, I am not saying I am a stalker… haha… (Where am I going with this?)

Anyway, I got a message from a good friend of hers on my Youtube inbox, Jean Baptiste Erreca who directs almost all of Anggun’s music videos, 5 minutes before I met Anggun & he told me to give Anggun a big hug and kiss…. LOL …, which I did. She was quite surprised that I know people who worked with her in Europe… & I even told her I have met with another one workmate of hers, Frederic Lepage, a movie director who directed a very good friend of mine, Keith Chin (Anna & The King), who played the lead in his latest movie called “Sunil Et L’elephant” last year in Bangkok where I hung out with the French production crew for more than a month (I think)… can’t really remember exactly how long it was & Frederic himself told me that he worked with Anggun in France… That is why I am so so happy to get to meet Anggun in person today!

Anggun was friendly & such a pro because she has been doing this since she was 9. She started in Indonesia, moved to Europe & fought her way to make it as an international artiste. One word - INSPIRATIONAL. When I stood beside her to have our photo taken by the kind people from Metadome, I can’t help but ask her, “Your hair doesn’t smell like Pantene, do you actually use it?” LOL, “Of course! :-p” Anggun replied. As you all well know Anggun is the current spokesperson for Pantene. She told me that her next album will be an acoustic album… and yeah, her excitement really shows. Anggun exudes confidence & positivity, which I really admire & like to emulate. Hmmm… what else? Oh! I pass her my CD & signed, “To Anggun, my favorite chanteuse!”. I tried showing her how much I know about her music & what she has done in the past so that she know I am a real fan & supporter.

I wish I could write it all but some things are hard to explain, I rather have the pictures speak for itself. Words alone couldn’t describe how I felt during the meeting. I am officially starstruck guys! I have never been so starstrucked my entire life! Before we said our goodbyes, we hugged & I said to Anggun, “I hope our path will cross again in the future”.

I left Istana Hotel feeling super happy! Wooohooo! It was a super experience!

Venue: Scarlet Mansion @ Hap Seng Star
Later around 9.30PM, I went to STYLO’s Fashion Grand Prix KL 09 & witnessed well-known Malaysian menswear by local Malaysian designers graced the catwalk. I am not all that familiar with local menswear & it was a fantastic opportunity for me to see what Malaysia’s menswear designers have in store for its men. I truly enjoyed the show & was happy to see the designs weren’t all that boring. I reckon that Malaysian men should take more chances with the many different looks & choices available for them to choose from out there but of course not to go overboard with it. Unless you live in Japan or Paris… you can wear ANYTHING you want where people won’t care or they’ll applaud you for taking risks! (I wish I were in those two cities now)

This is Hatta Dolmat, the guy who is currently designing my 'Songket' inspired outfit for Anugerah Bintang Popular 2008. Can't wait!

Will I have the time to do all these ?!?!? | Photoshoot with Hatta Dolmat & Shila OIAM2 for Berita Harian | LIVE interview on TV9s Nasi Lemak Kopi O

Arrived safely at KLIA last Sunday 22nd March @ 9PM. Slept all the way from Melbourne to KL like a baby until 2 hours before the plane descended. Picked up The Star on the plane & caught one interesting letter from a reader saying, “..if everybody is really really serious about Earth Hour, then we should all go back to the stone age…” WHICH I thought made a lot of sense. If any of you netizens noticed, almost all blogs currently talk about Earth Hour & most are supporting it. I still have not make up my mind yet…. Whaddya think? Plus I so wanted to extend my time in Melbourne, but I have to come back as I have a lot of things on my plate now... grrrr...

Anyway, I went to visit my hair sponsor, Bambang from Hair Kunst [Schwarzkopf] the next day and got my haircut… Got it a lot shorter than usual actually. Hehe. Hatta Dolmat, Malaysia’s current hot designer [2008 -ABPBH Most Popular Designer] told me that he prefers my ‘GOKU- Dragon Ball’ hairdo to be shorter & is kind enough to offer to design for me & sponsor my outfit for Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian 2008, which will be held on the 12th of April at the Arena of Stars, Genting. He has never designed anything for a male artist before & yeah I felt so honored! That special night will have a “Songket” theme to it & I am just so bloody excited especially after we discussed about the designs for my outfit yesterday @ Rafflesia Park Royal Hotel where Hatta, Shila OIAM2 & I had our photoshoot & interview with the kind peeps from Berita Harian.

The photoshoot took longer than usual but we got all the pictures we wanted for the story on Hatta designing for Shila and I. Thanks Hatta! As we wrapped, a friend of mine took me to a secret meeting [lol] at an empty house in Wangsa Melawati for a secret project [lol] with a secretive group of people. What’s the secret? Hehehe… later! I know cheesy right?

After a couple of hours spending time ‘secretively’ with that secretive select group of people at that empty house I just mentioned, Oh! And after downing a couple of Kueh Koci nyum nyum, I went to FACES 100th Issue Anniversary held at Quatro, Avenue K. As usual the traffic was really bad, many got stuck & were late. It was fun meeting familiar faces I haven’t seen in quite a while including my cuzzy Fly FM radio announcer Moe Nasrul.

[Still waiting for photos from people]
More to come. Bye for now. DON'T FORGET TO WATCH ME LIVE ON TV9s NASI LEMAK KOPI O WITH SHILA OIAM2, THIS SUNDAY 29TH MARCH @ 9AM. IZ

5 days left before I head back to KL | I found CheNelle's "Hurry Up" Music Video set :-p

Went out with my friends yesterday to the Melbourne Food Festival where I saw heaps of people came in droves. There were also cheese tasting and some coffee makin’ where they teach you about ‘Crema’ (You can judge if a coffee is good or not by just looking at the Crema covering the inside of an empty cup- not many ppl know this. The coffees u get at Starbucks or CoffeeBean isn't real coffee lemme tell ya. Just American shit). Melbourne is known for its coffee in this region.... But I don’t drink coffee tho’, give me a soy chai or a soy hot choc anytime! Coffee stains the teeth..yuk
Checked out this cool structure alongside Yarra River after the festival & discovered later that it appeared in Che’Nelle’s “Hurry Up” musis video… kewl eh? Check it! No wonder the structure reminded me of somethin’.
Been walking lots yesterday which is why I am up early & get to update this blog! HUHUH.5 days left before I head back to KL. Wish I could stay longer. Tsk tsk.

Going back to KL

Guys! I am coming back in a week's time. KL, here I come.

Check me out @ JOMSTAR.COM | JOM!

Checkout my latest interview & pics by visiting Malaysia's 1st Online Magazine @ Jomstar.com now! and by the way... I have recovered from my demam caused by the unpredictable weather changes in Melbourne... WeeeeE!

Safe & Sound in Melbourne | My BALI Adventure | Hairdreams Event KL | Dr Zein Obagi Skincare

Hey guys. They say it’s gonna be hot today in Melbourne. I got a message from Vic Police on my mobile phone yesterday which reads, “Extreme weather expected tonight (Monday) & tomorrow. High wind & fire risk. Listen to ABC local radio for emergency update”. If you watch or read the news in Malaysia you must have heard the recent bushfires in Victoria, Australia that has killed many civilians and left many homeless. I hope nothing bad happen again. Moving on… I have been unwell for the past couple of days because of the sudden change in weather but yeah... still managed to have fun & catch up with friends.
This is a video I did just yesterday & you’ll get a sneek peek of my song A.L.O.N.E. Check it!Other than that, I haven’t done much, basically just lazing around, watching DVDs, ‘chillaxing’ & basically just enjoying my time alone here. I am not entirely frozen mind you, as I am always working on “stuff”. Hehehe. I really really appreciate the messages I got prompting me to update my blog, on Facebook, MySpace and Friendster… so here you go guys. I have listed below interesting/not so interesting anecdotes in my boring life so far prior to me being here with photos, Enjoy!

25th Feb Wednesday – SAFE AND SOUND
Arrived safely in Melbourne… got in the city & looked around. Everything is still the same… and yeah finally I threw myself on my couch…. sleeeppp sleeepp zzZzzz.

1st thing I did: Grab lunch at my favorite Grossi Florentino, Bourke St. on the very next day with Joey & the gang.


Went to Chapel St at 9.30AM with Anna and Joey to check out the Tsubi jeans sale... everything was priced below 100AUD than the usual 300AUD over you pay for in stores. Checkout the queue! We were standing in the sun but it wasn't too bad. I didn't buy anything though. Nothing turned me on.

24th Feb Tuesday – STUCK IN BALI. TQ MAS.
Woke up early and boarded my morning flight to Melbourne… and as you all well know, I ended up in Bali because of sudden unavoidable technical problems with MH129 wher they had to do an emergency landing. What the heck! I dont mind as long as I got a free holiday and funnily enough, discovered some rupiah left from my last trip to Jakarta in my wallet. Used them up & bought DVDs (Got Lipstick Jungle which I am watching now + Can’t wait to start on Cashmere Mafia) Free hotel, free food… nothing better I could ask for. It was indeed the “longest” journey ever for me to Melbourne plus it took bloody 48 hours! Hehehe. Check out the Bali photos below…


23rd Feb Monday - HAIRDREAMS
My hair sponsor, Mr Bambang Sutrisno from Hair Kunst @ The Curve Damansara & his business partner invited me to the launch of Hairdreams, a top-notch hair extension technology for women and man. It was held at The Gardens Hotel. Check them out if you worry about getting “botak” early. SERIOUSLY!



19th Feb Friday – DR ZEIN OBAGI
I gave my testimony on Dr Zein Obagi’s latest skincare line, ZO, at Pavilion KL after using for almost 2 months. The renowned skin doctor himself flew all the way down from Beverly Hills to be at the Pavilion launch of the new line. Do you know that skin is the biggest organ on your body? I just got to know it. Take care of it before it's too late guys! like me, I am still trying....

More soon!

Currently stranded in Bali. Technical problems. Melbourne flight cancelled.

I woke up early this morning to catch my flight to Melbourne & I was so excited because the last time I went back was last October 2008. I am suppose to be on the plane to Melbourne right now & [Looking at the watch] should have arrived in Melbourne by 8PM Melbourne time BUT, there were some technical problems on the plane and MAS decided to do an emergency landing in Bali. Later they cancel the flight & put up all passengers at a really nice hotel in Bali called Hotel Kartika Plaza Discovery…. I got the whole room to myself, free food etc. All in all, a free holidayyyeee!!! :-p Anyhooo, I hope my flight tomorrow morning at 7AM will be a safe one. Bali photos will be up soon.

SEVENTEEN Feb Issue at last! | Visit Jomstar.com

Check me out in this month's SEVENTEEN Magazine [Beyonce is on the cover]. Also, don't forget to checkout my interview & photos taken during a photoshoot by the Jomstar krew @ an abandoned house in KL by visiting Jomstar.com now!






* Behind The Scenes: During the SEVENTEEN magazine shoot which took place almost 6 months ago in Petaling Jaya around their office area. I remembered how scorching hot it was.

I'M [in] SEVENTEEN

I am in the February issue of SEVENTEEN magazine. 

How I wish I'm still SEVENTEEN.... Check it out... the cover this month is Beyonce.... lemme know if you got it yea?! :-)

Meeting SALLY YEH in Genting Highlands | Bob & Farah AF2 | Hair Kunst | Farah Asyikin | MELBOURNE next week

Hi guys. Another interesting anecdote from this week that I like to share with you guys. I went to a very interesting concert last weekend held at The Arena of Stars stadium, Genting Highland in conjunction with Valentines Day. It was a full Chinese concert by Hong Kong superstar, Sally Yeh and I can tell you that I only understood like 1% from the whole thing but what really amazes me was that I actually really enjoyed it. My manager, Mr. Kenji wanted me to learn how a Hong Kong legend do her thing. Found out later that Sally Yeh couldn’t speak Chinese as she grew up in Canada. How did she do it then? Was it all scripted?
I found this on the Internet, “Sally Yeh: Against All Odds. Sally Yeh is famous for the way she works in the recording studio. She grew up in Canada and didn't know Chinese. Producers and lyricists translated their work into English phonetics on big poster boards. Even though the translation looked like a flurry of nonsense, to Sally, it was like an art moved by Beethoven: language impairment or not, Sally had the inner intuition to direct every song into a precise performance. And you'd better believe it. To the outsider, this sounds like nonsense. But to Sally and her mentor George Lam, it's given both a "can do" attitude.

Amazing eh? I can really relate to this as I don’t speak any Chinese whatsoever & I have really tried my best when I sang my Mandarin version of Gonna Be Alright, HUI HAO DE. I was of course excited to meet her backstage after the show... and yeah passed her my CD :-p

Went to an event by Schwarzkopf yesterday at Hair Kunst, The Curve (My official hairdresser/ sponsor) when Bambang (Owner) texted me to come. Decided to go even though it was on short notice as I know going to Hair Kunst gonna be a lot of fun anyway! Met Bob & Farah from Akademi Fantasia 2 (I think).
I also went to Farah Asyikin’s younger sisters' akad nikah… so yeah... That is why we are both dressed up like that in that photo in case you’re wondering. So alim right?

I am going back to Melbourne next week! Can't wait!

Jakarta Trip | I am on CELCOM's XPax Top Download List! | Agnes Monica, Acha Septriasa & Samuel Rizal | Bemby & Yuri |

I have been back for a week now since my last trip to Jakarta, I'm so sorry for letting you guys wait on the photos!!! LOL…. There isn’t much really as I was more busy with taking in the sights and sounds instead of taking heaps of photos as usual. I was quite surprise I didn’t take as much photo as I did on previous trips. [On the left is a photo of me with Acha & Sammy at Puro Blowfish in Mega Kuningan.]

Hung out with DJ Sumantri & my friend Bemby @ Sumantri's studio in Permata Hijau. Sumantri have worked & produced artists such as Agnes Monica, Dewi Sandra, Glen & even Anuar Zain.... kewl eh? I am next! LOL. Check out the YouTube video of me giving a quick trip of the studio where many hits got recorded.


Yuri, Me & Bemby @ Yuri's house in Warung Buncit, Jakarta. We recorded a demo we wrote together... they are a bunch of talented kids... Like me...hehehe. After we finished our session, Yuri's mom served us yummylicious homecooked Indonesian food for dinner.... nyum! I'm drooling now just thinking of it.

This is Carolina, a jazz singer I met at Senayan City in Jakarta. She performed with her Jazz band & guys, she sounded amazing... Definitely one of the highlights of my trip over there.

Free WiFi yeah!

FREE CD FROM AGNES MONICA!
DJ Sumantri called Agnes to tell her that IZ from Malaysia (Me lol) is at the studio with him & if she could come over since she live so close, but, she was busy with her family so what she did was that she had her Pak Supir (driver) send an autograph CD of her latest Single album. The CD came with an Agnes wrist strap (as you can see I'm wearing in the pic) so yeah I was so close to meeting her... next time, next time. I in turn gave her Pak Supir my CD & poster in to pass to Agnes. Agnes wrote something on that A4 paper for me that I couldn't really read. Can any of you guys decipher what it says?
Check out! check out! My name is on the top list on Celcom's Xpax! Thank you for downloading my songs guys! Keep downloading yeah? I really appreciate your support! IZ. Hugs.

Coming home today.

Hi guys! I am flying back to KL today at 7PM Jakarta time. I w9sh I don't have to leave my new friends just yet but yeah, there are so many thing to do in KL. I am looking forward to my next trip here :-) I will do a full update from KL.

Currently jamming with Bemby & Yuri in Warung Buncit, Jakarta.

I am writing this post during my 1st jamming session with my new friends, Bemby Noor & Yuri (Both are cousins) at Yuri’s house around Warung Buncit, Jakarta for one of my songs. I am actually pretty excited because I am writing the lyrics. It is very interesting to watch everything happen slowly, taking its form before my eyes, as it unfolds itself. I hope this will turn out fine. ☺ Wish me luck.

HELLO! From Jakarta Central.

Hey guys! Just wanna give a quick shoutout to all you guys there, including all of you 'silent' readers of this blog hehehe I know you're watching me but I can 'see' you too you know?! LOL.... please do say hi in the Chatbox. Thanks to the other visitors who did write, keep visiting my blog yeah?

Anyways, I have met up with a couple of Indonesian producers plus songwriters to collaborate with for my full studio album and one of them is the cool DJ Sumantri who have produced among all well known songs such as Lelaki Ini, Ketulusan Hati = Anuar Zain, Godai Aku, Matahari, Tak Ada Logika = Agnes Monica, Dewi Sandra, Dewi Persik, Glenn dan macam2 lagi. Such a cool guy he is.... hung out at his studio with my Indo friends from Melbourne, he even gave me (FOC! Thanks Mr. DJ) my Indonesian SIM card with Telekomsel because I didn't know where to get one. Oh! If you guys want to call me & say hi to me in Jakarta just dial +6285287300037 LOL. I wish I could upload photos from the Living Room Studio @ ITC Permata Hijau area in Jakarta but I couldn't do that now because I am writing this post from an internet cafe on Jalan Acheh... Also I found out from one of my Indo friends that Barack Obama used to grow up and go to school in Menteng, Jakarta! Kewl eh???

I went to an event in Kuningan area last Friday held at this club called Puro (Blowfish) & hung out with Nicholas Saputra, Samuel Rizal & Acha Septriasa (Who is on holiday currently because Lim Kok Wing tengah cuti) and yeah, they're nice people.... Our table was next to anak presiden Indonesia punye table.... LOL.

I hope to be able to upload photos on my next post for you guys.... keep checking my blog ya? Don't be shy to say hi! Bye for now and be safe. Much love. IZ. Central Jakarta.

A.L.O.N.E (New Single) | Chinese New Year | IZ's Jakarta Trip | TQ Celebrity Fitness! | Zein Obagi's Skincare Line Testimonial next month

Hey, hey, hey. Your boy IZ is back. Happy Chinese New Year everybody! It’s the Year of the Ox! (OK, what sound does OX’s makes? I've No idea :-p)

I was caught up with so many things last week and one of the highlights being my performance of my 2009 English single called ‘A.L.O.N.E’ at an event in Bukit Bintang from my soon to be released full studio album (You heard it! It’s the follow up to my debut EP released last August 08). It will be released soon on radios & I am so excited! I was quite nervous when I performed it for the 1st time... will upload the video of the performance soon.

I am also flying out to Jakarta tomorrow with KLM! Yey! I am very excited about this trip. It’s gonna be a working/holiday trip for me & I’ll be hanging out with my Indonesian friends from my old uni who I haven’t seen for quite sometime. I’m also looking forward to my meetings with a couple of Indonesian songwriters/ composers for possible collaborations. Who knows? Wish me luck OK? I will tell more on that when I am actually there LOL. Can’t wait.

Another interesting anecdote I like to share from last week: I was so happy when I was invited to give a testimony next month on a new skincare line invented by internationally renowned dermatologist, Zein Obagi, MD (Beverly Hills) called ZO Skin Health from the US which is not released yet here in Malaysia. The brand has been kind enough to supply me with its Jumpstart Kit worth more than 2000 Ringgit. And it looks like this;

I guess what I do now is to actually use the products according to the instructions given to me & witness the results myself :-p The packaging itself is actually very cool & designed in such a way that it doesn’t let air get into the products to maintain its freshness & also keep its healing properties.

One more before I GO! I like to also take this opportunity to thank Celebrity Fitness who invited me to be part of their fabulous gym & for being kind enough to sponsor my gym membership. Guys, checkout their website yeah? They are opening a new outlet in Wangsa Maju, which is only a 5-minute drive from my place in Taman Melawati.

I've gtg now. So many things to do, so little time. Please keep the donations for Adik Nabila’s heart surgery coming yeah? Jangan lupa war warkan kepada semua orang ☺ I PROMISE YOU’LL HEAR MORE FROM ME IN JAKARTA. Wish me a safe trip!

Together We Can Make A Difference - Lets Help Adik Nabila

I went for an interview/photoshoot with Rina from Utusan Newspaper last Tuesday at Nikko Hotel despite the fact that I spent the whole night before at AJ Pop Shuvit’s studio & got home around 6.30am that same day. Phewh! And woke up with a fever. I blame the current KL weather. What to do? I still had to go for that interview with Utusan. As soon as the interview finished, my publicist rushed me home & I went back to bed. I needed to get better for The Breakfast Show.

Some of you might have caught me on NTV7’s The Breakfast Show yesterday with Adik Nabila, her mother [Hjh Bedah Hj Abdul Razak] and her business partner & friend [Evelyn E L Ch’ng PJK., JP.] who together with the assistance of Success Motivation Initiative (M) Sdn. Bhd. organised a one-day charity seminar titled ‘Creating Values in Your Child – Every Parent’s Obligation’ last weekend where I sang GONNA BE ALRIGHT pro bono.

The event was intended to help raise funds for 12 year-old Nabila who suffers from Down Syndrome and Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD), a complex cyanotic congenital heart disease. I like to spread this message of hope and optimism to everyone out there especially to readers of this blog to enable Nabila to have urgent corrective heart surgery & post operation care at Institut Jantung Negara [IJN - National Heart Institute].

Please forward your donation to Bank Simpanan Nasional account - BSN 10100-29-00034116-5. If you like to know more about Adik Nabila & her condition, please email me at info_iz@mac.com

Anugerah Juara Lagu 23. Heaps of fun!

Did you guys catch AJL23 on TV last night? Wow, I was blown away by all the performances seriously… I hope to be on that stage one day (Droolz). I thought all 14 songs were such strong contenders… I enjoyed all of the performances but of course I have my own favorite but I can’t tell you guys which, hehehe. Who was your favorite? [Answers in the ChatBox]

Michelle from MELODI interviewed me on the red carpet, met up with Kak Jaclyn, DJ 'Aura' Shai frm RiaFM Singapore, & of course AYUuuu! I love her new hair. Anyhoo, not even halfway through the show I was starving… lapar gile… & this includes LOL my cousin Moe Nasrul [FlyFM’s traffic guy who sat beside me], Ben Ibrahim [Gua's Kaki Bola] and our newly crowned Miss Malaysia World 2008, Soo Wincci. Ben, Soo Wincci & I are currently being managed by Mr. Kenji Luthfee alongside Deborah Henry [Miss Malaysia World 2007] & Cassandra Patrick [Miss Malaysia World 1st Runner up 2006/07]

Kenji, being the ever caring manager, went outside to buy food to feed Moe & I budak2 yg kelaparan LOL… He had to hide two burgers & 2 cokes underneath his shirt as no food were allowed during the show. Moe & I ONLY took our bite when the camera didn’t hover over us! LOL.

THE DAY BEFORE AJL23: SATURDAY
I performed for an event where I met Angeline from Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu. You won't believe that she has two kids & looking like that...

After the show, went to Pavilion with my Publicist/Pa, Az for lunch at this Japanese place.... really cheap! and sedap. [Come to think of it, I rarely post photos of my food like this other popular blog].

Went for a walk to help digest my rather heavy lunch & saw the Chinese New Year deco in front of Pavilion's main entrance. I felt as if I am in another country. I love the feeling of being in another place, maybe because I am the type of person who loves to travel... sigh

Oh well, I am heading to Jakarta in less than 2 weeks!... will let you guys know what I am doing there. So stay tuned tau. Ciao!

Bye Bye 2008, Hello 2009! [Lama gile x update]

Hey guys! This is my 1st 2009 entry for this blog! & I am excited and looking forward to achieve more this year. What about you?

I hope it is still not too late for me to wish you guys a Happy New Year wherever you may be. All is well with me here & I hope you enjoyed your holidays too. Again, please forgive me for my sudden absence from this blog. Just nak bagitahu korang, this blog IZ sendiri yang tulis, bukan my manager or my PA… sebab hari tu ada blog reader yang jumpa IZ kat luar tanya IZ kalau2 bukan IZ yang update sendiri. My own effort OK? I have been on a long break myself perhaps too long hehe. I have had a good rest & been thinking & plotting a lot lately. I really appreciate your comments in the chatbox during my absence. Please keep’em coming K!? As you all well know I am currently working on my full album, which HOPEFULLY will be released later this year. New songs will be released soon as singles & I am particularly excited with my first 2009 single that I have started working on in collaboration with AJ Pop Shuvit. More of that in later posts.

NOTE: I am in four magazines this month. TO all my fans in Singapore, checkout this month’s SUTRA Magazine. I am featured on page 99 (I’m still waiting for Khairee to scan a copy for you guys, cepat la :-p). Also checkout KLUE (page 023), OK! (page 50) & Mens Uno (Chinese magazine).

Last Saturday I went to Budiey.com’s 2nd Anniversary at Berjaya Times Square & mingled with local personalities & readers of the famous blog. Check out the photos! Everyone was wearing orange but I didn’t because I had to rush from an event held earlier at Pavilion & I was an hour late. Bad bad IZ.


Okie doke, since I’ve left you guys for quite awhile, here is what I’ve been up to since my last entry.

In case you didn’t noticed, around NOV & DEC 2008 I was the cover of The Star’s RAGE, Malaysian Today, HOT Magazine, Pancaindera, Mangga, Media Hiburan, Yezz!, & Cosmopolitan. There will be a media page coming up containing past publications featuring me. watch out for it!


I also sang for Pesona Nona TV3’s press conference held at Carcosa Seri Negara last month where each candidate were officially introduced to the press. The theme was Hawaiian/ Carribean & I performed BERSAMA TOGETHER plus When I Get You Alone by Robin Thicke.


Remember Tunku Tiara? aka Yaya aka my One In A Million 2 buddy? She celebrated her 21st birthday at Redbox Pavilion with her familia. Her aunt, Cikgu Vocal Syafinaz was also there where we did traditional malay dance to Rihanna’s Umbrella. LOL. I bought Yaya two little birdie called Strawberry Finch as a bday present. They’re super cute.


New Year’s Eve Dinner with my cuz Fly FM’s traffic guy, Moe Nasrul & BFF Emily. We went to FlyFM’s Hafiz’s apartment (Actually it was Hunny Madu’s place but she wasnt in town) after the countdown for some TABOO and had a ball!

Went to a surprise birthday party of a friend and coincidently met more Melbourne peeps… hehehe... was fun.

Caught up with my Melbourne pals, Joey & Anna recently. I really dig Joey’s hairstyle so much! Thinking of having the same but improvised hairstyle like hers, whaddya think?(White top) I am bored with my hair already....!

Phewh guys! Thousand apologies for my long overdue entry.
Stay tuned K?
BEST
IZ

Merry Xmas Everyone! Watch me, Nikki, Farah Asyikin, Ash Nair, Nita & Louisa Chong today on TV2.

Hi Everyone,
Tune in to TV2 at 3.30PM today as I will be on Holly Jolly Xmas Show where I sang, played football & tried to act along with Nikki, Farah Asyikin, Ash Nair, Louisa Chong & Nita.

Jangan gelak ok? FULL UPDATE COMING SOON.

FULL UPDATE COMING SOON | Me as Chris in Miss Saigon Sing Thru Musical @ The Actors Studio Bangsar in 2002.

I'm still trying to find the time to blog. Don't get mad ya? Hehe. Just wanna say hi to the new peeps who found their way to my blog. Hope you have a pleasant stay. Meanwhile, I like to share with you guys a bit of history on me hehe. In 2002, I was part of a choir group in KL called the Young KL Singers. In that same year I sang the lead in a Miss Saigon Sing Thru Musical as Chris, an American soldier who met a Vietnamese girl he fell in love with during the Vietnam War. It was staged at The Actors Studio Bangsar. Check the video out! I was a lot younger too!

Stay tuned for more. Much love, IZ. I am singing at Pesona Nona TV3 event today at Carcosa Seri Negara. So excited!

Dude & Duchess | Farah Asyikin's watch event | Audi Mok | Amber Chia | Pop Shuvit | Indonesia | RingBackTone | McD | Siti Sarah | OldTown Yap Kwan Sen

Events, events, events. Checkout the Xmas cookies I got from a Dude & Duchess event I went to last Wednesday. Cute as a button eh? It yummy too! Went to Farah Asyikin’s Roscani watch event after that where she performed my current favorite song HELLO composed by Audi Mok who I also met at the event. Passed him a copy of my CD & we had a little chat about working together. Who knows what might come up next? Stayed for 30mins before my manager & I moved on to another event: Amber Chia’s 27th Birthday Party held at this club (I forgot the name) at Caps Square Off Jalan Ampang. An interesting anecdote I like to share; Amber made me walk the runaway… gosh I did it by infusing silly walking style; crazy jumps & dance moves, & the crowd went wild!… LOL. Sorrry I can’t share any photos cuz I looked like a total idiot. I was supposed to go to Hannah Tan’s farewell party but had to cancel because I was too tired & it was getting late.

Farah & I, last week @ RTM doing silly poses. "HELLO!"

The HELLO man, Audi Mok himself. [I'm looking forward to work with you!]

Kenji (My manager), Amber (Malaysian lanky tall supermodel FYI), & me & - lupe

Shaz from XFresh was there too!

As some of you may know, I’ve started working on my full album (Wish me luck!) & you guys will hear more from me in the coming months. I had a lot of fun during a writing session with AJ Pop Shuvit last Tuesday night, which went for like 5 hours! I already got songs from Indonesia too! Cant tell from who yet. Hope you guys be patient enough until I unleash my new materials. Good things happen to those who wait. Hehehe. Oh! if you like Gonna Be Alright or Bersama Together, show me that you love me by getting the RingBackTones on your mobile phones. Below are the instructions (Instructions also available on the back cover of my EP).

BERSAMA TOGETHER FEATURING NORA DANISH
Maxis: Dail *131*98191# and press CALL/SEND
Celcom: SMS: CMT 52095 and send to 22990
Digi: SMS: CT BUY 0048266 and send to 2000

GONNA BE ALRIGHT
Maxis: Dail *131*98190# and press CALL/SEND
Celcom: SMS: CMT 52097 and send to 22990
Digi: SMS: CT BUY 0048265 and send to 2000
For full song, send MUSIC to 33138 on your mobile now.

Had Meccas last night. I had the seasonal, once-a-year only Prosperity Burger which I've been missing. It was yummy! Saw Siti Sarah @ 4AM in the morning @ OldTown Yap Kwan Seng but wasn't allowed to take her photo because she didn't have any make up on. Duh! Oh well, I look like shit too at that hour... hohoho... till my next entry... Have a nice day!