We attended the launch of Smirnoff Twist at The Loft (Zouk) yesterday evening.. it’s a pretty colourful event that started out with non-alcoholic drinks for guests. The vodka came later and in true Stephanie fashion, out came the shot glasses, sugar and lemon wedges. Only way to taste those things, really.

The Smirnoff Twist girls, from L-R: Cit, Rus, Rasp, Berry, Or & Ange.

The verdict:

Smirnoff Twist Citrus - smells pleasantly citrus-like, strong lemon taste (they claimed it to be infused, not flavoured, vodka.. and infused vodka is not supposed to be too strong on taste) and pretty strong aftertaste. I’d drink this again, but I wouldn’t part money for it.

Smirnoff Twist Raspberry - the worse of the lot, smelled pleasant enough but tasted very strongly artificial and went down quite badly with cranberry juice and orange. I didn’t like this at all, the flavour was too ‘in your face’.. it pretty much Sucked.

Smirnoff Twist Orange - smells quite artificial (I’ve never known real oranges to smell anything like this vodka smelt) and tasted pretty artificial as well. Kinda reminds me of that pasteurized orange drink from Good Day, but without the milk obviously.. It was drinkable but I’d rather splurge on a bottle of Absolut Mandarin..

All three went down smoothly however, in true Smirnoff style. In terms of flavour, nothing quite beats Absolut.. except maybe a bottle of Stolichnaya Persik (peach).

Hey, don’t take my word for it.. aight?

When I recite phrases in my mind, I often imagine them as text on a page. I wonder what typeface it is printed in, because I have never been able to take a snapshot of that image and scrutinize it.

A little surprise from Phoung was waiting for me when I got back from work last night. That girl sent me a hipster bikini and two boyshort-type thingies from Kylie Minogue’s LoveKylie lingerie range. All I needed to brighten my day - yay! - which wasn’t going too well due to some minor issues with some agency. I’d post a picture but I was too tired to take pictures last night. Isn’t she a sweetie?

During work, I find myself either extremely busy or extremely free. Right now I’m extremely free.

Oh, wait. I think I said the magic word - I’ve got something to do now. Shucks.

After a grand wedding dinner on Saturday night, Nik and I went to check out Doug’s gig at Rokaro Rock Cafe in PJ. It was an extremely intense performance through out with some guest performers - Alvin Wong did a funny dance and Chui Ling sang a duet with Douglas.

Doug on stage belting an intense rendition of Sweet Child of Mine

Nik & Douglas

We left at around 1am and went back to watch Master and Commander. I’m not a fan of Russell Crowe at all but after watching that movie I can’t wait for the sequel. My friend Ian is a big fan of Patrick O’Brien and has been telling me to read the books for ages.. maybe now I will go get them (after I finish the 4 books in my reading queue.. sigh)

I wish I had more time to read.

I’m currently reading Angelina Jolie’s Notes from My Travels, Anne Fadiman’s Confessions of a Common Reader (yes, I’m still reading that one), a book I’m reviewing for PM and Anthony Bourdain’s Bone in the Throat.. all at once. It’s a wonder I manage to keep up with all the plots, although I find myself having a preference for Jolie’s book above all others at the moment. It’s hardly literary genius material but it’s an honest look at the other side of the world today. Gripping stuff.

Back to work

The Pure White Aqua party last night at PanGlobal Club in PJ last night was the coolest party I’ve been to in ages. In terms of attention to detail, I’d say this one is better than the last. The set up was really cool - there was a bed in the middle of the pool, polariod snaps you get to keep when you arrive, embroidered towels for everyone, sexy dancers disguised as swim coaches, great music, even better finger food and seriously amazing drinks (how did they manage to make Pure White drinkable I don’t know but I like it alot more now than I ever did before!) - so kudos to the organizing team (especially Alan, Jo and Doreen) for making it so fun.

The spiked fruits that Tiff made went down really well. Douglas was packing in alcohol-soaked grapes like there was no tomorrow and the fruit-infused Pure White bottles got wiped out real fast. Lynn and her table cut to the chase and grabbed whole trays of shots instead of waiting for the girls to come round with them. I lost count of how many I had but I kept in check as I’d driven there with Colleen.

It started pretty slow but once the alcohol and mood kicked in, quite a few people ditched their inhibitions and jumped in the pool. I got pushed in at some stage by Rudy, and thrown in many times after that by various people.. I also threw a few people in myself. Even some people who said they weren’t drinking and definately weren’t gonna get wet was drinking and jumping in. Justin got his linen pants wet, Gwen ditched her attempt to stay dry and got right in the pool in her dress and Nik was well prepared and going around the whole night intoxicating friends and strangers. Debbie and Ken were repeatedly getting in and out of the pool. The blind faith I had in my MAC waterproof makeup was well paid off at the end of the night when Alex wondered aloud why I still had makeup on.. hee.

At the end of the night, we did a great job of messing up the place. The turn out was not as good as the last (Zouk just opened its doors) but the people who were there were all the real party animals and it was soooo fun. Here are some pictures from my camera before we all got wet:

Lynn, Steph & Eleana

Steph & Julia

Nik administering some apple-infused Pure White Hennessy via spray pump to a more than willing Mark

Zen & Douglas

Daniele, Leroy, Alan, TK, Robert & Sam

King Alexander of Hennessy getting saucy with one of his subjects

Steph & the ultra funky dancers

Right before we left, Ken emptied a bucket of ice down my back (I pushed him in 5 minutes before) and I had to jump in the pool to warm up.. the water was beautifully warm. That woke me up completely. Can’t wait for the next one next month.

PURE WHITE AQUA HAPPENS TONIGHT! What does one wear when the invite says: White, Wet & Wild? I have body issues so that rules out my white bikini

The Zouk Official launch party last night was a success in terms of attendance, but organization-wise it was pretty dissapointing. The PR company who was handling the guest lists were screwing up left and right, and you get people standing in long queues and getting to the desk only to find their names were not on the list, or asked to stand in another line because it’s on another list. They were confusing normal invites with VIP invites, and people who were supposed to be VIP were given normal tags and told they can’t drink at VIP bars. Major fuck up.

The ‘launch’ itself was okay.. although the whole media hype and build up of anticipation was nonchalantly disregarded in the actual event itself. It was disappointing. We were waiting to get our tags. We were waiting outside for the main room doors to open. We were waiting to get in. We were waiting for drinks. We were waiting upstairs for something to happen downstairs. We were waiting for finger food. We were waiting for Velvet Underground doors to open at 11pm, for VIPs with green tags. We can barely hear anything from upstairs actually.. the sound system (which is reputed to be the best in S.E.A.) sounded even worse than Nouvos’.. and you absolutely cannot hear the MC from upstairs even though it was an openly connected space.

The one nice thing was that at the VIP bar, the booze was top shelf and not watered down. Too bad I can’t say the same for the non-VIP bars.

Crowds were horrendous. We left Zouk at 11pm to check out Velvet, only to find that we can get in but can’t get out - the massive crowds were all trying to get in, and at 11pm the doors were open to public so they were coming in hoardes as well.. Nik, Irene (from Riche Monde) and I were stuck in the cloakroom section for ages trying to find a way out. It was horrible.

General consensus within my circle says: ‘Zouk is just another club lah‘

You decide:

Firedancers outside Zouk

Nik & Steph outside Zouk. It was so crowded and bloody hot.

Zouk Kuala Lumpur! Can’t get better than that.

Nik, Lynn & the opening ceremony in the background.. it involved pulling down the blue/green fabric instead of ribbon cutting.. or was there ribbon cutting too? Couldn’t tell.. too many people

Lighted interior of the main room.. at the time it wasn’t that packed yet.

Kay Tze, Steph and Lynn standing on some tiles and contemplating more drinks

Velvet underground: Cameras were prohibited and our one sneaky attempt to take pictures resulted in a side profile of a security guy.. who walked past as we clicked the shutter and didn’t even notice us. Oh well.

Steph & Terence.. just about to blow the joint.

I need coffee.

I’ve been making up for lack of posts lately with pics. Like Huai Bin says, a picture is worth a thousand words so I really don’t need to write all this when I can just post a picture of whatever I’m doing now.. hmm.. is that right?

But hey, hectic hectic, especially today I’ve been snowed under with work. Anyone who works in the publication design industry will know what it’s like when a magazine closes or when something is due to go to print. Unlike the web, a publication can’t go live at a few mouse-clicks. Instead, it goes through colour seperation, proofing, printing, distributing.. which takes up a good week or so and that means we have a week or so less to finish up before it’s due out. Not that I’m complaining, a tight deadline sometimes gets me like handmade Belgian pralines (yum!) do. Prr.

Not today. I have been dead tired of late.. must be me attempting to party and work at the same time and obviously failing miserably. This week is even more packed. Press screening tomorrow, Zouk launch on Thursday, Pure White party on Friday and a wedding on Saturday.. none of which I can miss.

I’m gonna be screwed on Sunday.

Oh yeah. I forgot to congratulate Pak Lah for his landslide victory. I heard Rudy and Jason Loh (of Hitz.fm) on Monday morning talking about it and this caller called in to say ‘Go Pak Lah!’ and the crew did this little jingle on air.. funny as.

Forza Ferarri!

Quite disappointed that Webber didn’t make it to the finish with such a good starting position, and Raikkonen needs a better constructor man.. someone please give him a car that doesn’t blow.

But hey, the track is once again, red!