Two of my favorite things are Marvel and Ramen. I am a huge Marvel fan, my personal favorite superhero is Iron Man. Iron Man is a Genius, Billionaire, Philanthropist, Engineer and many others. When I learned that Marvel is collaborating with Ippudo, I can’t let this unique chance slip away.

This collaboration is only for 2 days - Thursday 02/25/16 and Friday 02/26/16. Masterminded by C.B. Cebulski, Marvel’s Senior VP of Creative and Creator Development, and Fumihiro Kanegae, Ippudo’s Ramen Master, the event will showcase the “Avenger’s Interactive Ramen.” The pop-up will be open to the public, however only 40 bowls of the special ramen will be served per day, and no reservations will be accepted.

Lining Up

Because of the popularity, I decided to arrive 1.5 hours ahead to secure a spot for myself. When I arrived, there were people lining up already. I went to the end of the line and figured out I am #25 - one of the limited 40 seatings. Since the pop up is being held on the 2nd floor of Ippudo Westside, only 10 seats are available starting at 5pm. So I got assigned the 8pm slot. At 8pm, I arrived at Ippudo Westside once again waiting for my mission with the Avengers. First, I was taken to the secret passage to the 2nd floor of Ippudo Westside. There were posters around the stairs and I was greeted with the waitresses.

Main Course

My ramen station looked like this.

First you are provided with sake selected by Chiizuko Niikawa-Helton of Sake Discoveries and a Japanese beer Dry Asahi. This represent a pickled Alien - baby octopus pickled in a sweet and sour brine bathed in Nanbu Bijin Ruten - a premium Ginjo Sake, attacked NYC.

Then Avengers come to the rescue! The most important part of ramen is the broth. It is what makes a ramen a ramen. Marvel Soup - 3-year-aged Iberico Pork soup, blended with organic chicken soup. The aged pork represents Marvel comic’s founding in 1939, and the chicken soup Marvel’s success ‘soaring’ into the sky in the present day. With both broth combined, they make “Ironman II” soup.

Next are the ingredients of the ramen bowl. They are consisted of:

• Green Gamma-Ray “Hulk” Noodles
• A Single Red “Black Widow” Noodle
• Ironman’s “Arc Reactor” Poached Egg
• Captain America’s Shield, a Fishcake
• Mighty Thor’s Hammer Mjölnir, marinated & grilled Lamb Chops, coated in Bechame breaded in Panko, and fried
• Hawkeye Toast: “Ironman III” Seafood Sauce, topped with “Hawkeye” + garlic sauce, on a Baguette Toast

It was recommended to set the Mjölnir aside before it gets soggy. Then mix the Hawkeye Toast and Arc Reactor and stir everything together before having the meal.

Aftermath

At the end of the meal, C.B. Cebulski, Marvel’s Senior VP of Creative and Creator Development came and talked with me. We talked about Malaysia and how awesome this experience is for me. I explained to him my favorite Marvel superheroes is Ironman and coincidentally, I was given Ironman comic inside the goodie bag. In addition to the comic book, we were given a special collaboration T-shirt by Marvel artist Matt Waite.

I ended the night with a picture with C.B. Cebulski and Fumihiro Kanegae. I held the Capt’s Shield!!! In conclusion, I am very glad I participated in this 2 days special event. This chance is very rare and I still think about the exquisite broth with the ramen. Wish I can have it again…

A couple weeks ago, my product team at ADstruc gave me a chance to talk about CSS.

I then took a deeper look at some CSS tricks that I think are rarely discussed by people but still amazing to learn about them.

Here are 3 cool hidden CSS tricks I found that fascinate me and 2 regular CSS3 tutorials.

3 CSS Tricks

1. Counters
2. Navigation Separator
3. Columns

Counters

If you’re a programmer, you will definitely use counter somewhere in your code whether it is PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, or Pyhon.

You can actually do the similar thing in CSS with counter-reset, counter-increment, and counter(variableName).

If you take a look at the HTML below:

1. counter-reset:section was used to create a variable named section and set the value to 0.
2. counter-increment: section was used to increment the section counter by 1.
3. counter(section) was used to display the counter.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <style>

            body {
                counter-reset: section; /* Set the section counter to 0 */
                font-size: 2em;
            }

            span:before {
                counter-increment: section; /* Increment the section counter*/
                content: "[" counter(section) "]"; /* Display the counter */
            }

            span {
                color: red;
                font-size: 0.4em;
                font-weight: bold;
            }

        </style>
    </head>

    <body>
        <p>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting<span></span> industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived<span></span> not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker<span></span> including versions of Lorem Ipsum.</p>
    </body>
</html>

Counter Demo

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Navigation Separator

Sometimes when we are surfing through the internet, we will come across websites with navigation links with separator between them.

Solution 1: Most Common Solution :first-child Pseudo-class Selector

Most people who has a working knowledge of CSS will apply border-left on li tags and then use CSS pseudo-class first-child to remove the extra border-left like below:

li {
    display: inline;
    padding: 0 20px;
    border-left: 1px solid black;
}

li:first-child {
    border-left: none;
}

My Favorite Solution: Adjacent Selector

li + li {
    border-left: 1px solid black;
}

Adjacent selector will select only the element that is immediately preceded by the former element. In this case, only the li after another li wil have a black border-left. So if you look at the example below, only Portfolio and Contact will have a border of left.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <style>
            ul {
                list-style: none;
                text-align: center;
            }

            li {
                display: inline;
                padding: 0 20px;
            }

            li + li {
                border-left: 1px solid black;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <nav>
            <ul>
                <li>Home</li>
                <li>Portfolio</li>
                <li>Contact</li>
            </ul>
        </nav>
    </body>
</html>

Navigation Demo

---

Columns in CSS

With columns in CSS, it is able to separate a block of text for us in columns.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <style>

            body {
                margin: 60px;
                line-height: 2em;
            }

            h1 {
                text-align: center;
                text-decoration: underline;
                margin-bottom: 50px;
            }

            .two-columns {
                -moz-columns: 2; -webkit-columns: 2; columns: 2;
            }

            .three-columns {
                -moz-columns: 3; -webkit-columns: 3; columns: 3;
            }

        </style>
    </head>
    <body>

        <h1> CSS COLUMNS </h1>

        <div class="three-columns">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, 
        sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, 
        quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 
        Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat 
        nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa 
        qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum</div>

        <br />

        <div class="two-columns">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, 
        sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, 
        quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 
        Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat 
        nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa 
        qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum</div>

    </body>
</html>

Columns Demo

---

2 CSS3 Tutorial

1. 3D Button
2. Animation

3D Button

CSS3 comes with animation that we can perform on HTML elements. This simple tutorial will show you how to make a button presses down when clicked.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <style>

            button {
                background: #2ecc71;
                border-radius: 4px;
                margin: 0;
                outline: 0; /* No focus outline */
                padding: 12px 20px;
                border: 0;
                cursor: pointer;
                box-shadow: 0 5px 0 #27ae60; /* xOffset yOffset blur */
                transition: all .1s linear;
            }

            button:active {
                box-shadow: 0 2px 0 #27ae60; /* xOffset yOffset blur */
                transform: translateY(3px); /* move down */
            }

        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <button>Awesome Button</button>
    </body>
</html>

The way 3D effect works like this. Take a look at

button {
    transition: all .1s linear;
}

button:active {
    box-shadow: 0 2px 0 #27ae60; /* xOffset yOffset blur */
    transform: translateY(3px); /* move down */
}

When a button is clicked and held, it is in the button:active mode. At this time, the CSS3 transition effect will be activated and all CSS property will be changed as fast as 0.1 second.

So, this css pseudo-class will decrease the box-shadow yOffset from 5px to 2px. Then, it is using transform CSS property to translate the whole button down 3px. By doing this, it performs a 3D effect of a button being pressed down.

When the click is released, the CSS3 transition effect will lose it’s effect and go back to it’s original button state.

Button Demo

---

Animation

Another CSS3 feature is animation.

Here is an animation of a fish swimming…

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
    <head>
        <style>

            body {
                background: #31477d;
                width: 600px;
                height: 600px;
            }

            .fish {
                -webkit-animation-duration: 3.5s;
                -webkit-animation-name: swim;
                -webkit-animation-iteration-count: infinite;
                -webkit-animation-direction: alternate;
            }

            @-webkit-keyframes swim {
                from {
                    margin-left:100%;
                    width:50%
                }

                0% {
                    margin-top: 30%;
                    margin-left:80%;
                    width:40%;
                }

                50% {
                    margin-top: 40%;
                    margin-left:40%;
                    width:20%;
                }

                to {
                    margin-top: 20%;
                    margin-left:0%;
                    width:15%;
                }
            }

        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <img src="fish.gif" class="fish">
    </body>
</html

As you can see, we are assigning animation CSS properties to .fish class. This animation will run infinite time for 3.5s each way. Then it will alternate it’s direction every 3.5 seconds. I gave this animation function a name of swim.

Next thing we do is assign keyframes for this swim animation function. It must have from, and to. If you like to add additional keyframes, you can. I added two more - 0% and 50%. These keyframes means the percent completion of each animation each way. So at 1.75 seconds of each animation, which is 50% of 3.5s, I want the .fish class to have margin-top of 40%, margin-left of 40%, and width of 20%.

The final frame of the animation, which is defined in to means the fish will end up with margin-top of 20%, margin-left of 0% and width of 15%.

Fish Animation Demo

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The theme of this summer vacation is Asia. The three cities that I went to are Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul. Due to a lack of time, I only spent four days in Seoul, but the time spent there was unforgettable.

Food

Didn’t really get to eat different Korean food here. But I got to eat Crab Bibimbap. The big bowl on the right is Crab Bibimbap and like most Korean restaurants, they serve side dishes (반찬) too.

Another thing I got to try was Seolleim (설레임). I saw a bunch of students drinking from this and it looked delicious on a hot weather. So I went and got a milkshake flavor. It’s basically ice cream inside this plastic thing.

Places

Incheon International Airport

The first place I been to had to be the Incheon International Airpot. In my opinion, this airport is very big and beautiful. It has decoration everywhere. At night, it looked even more beautiful. The only bad thing is that many stores in this airport and airport railway close during midnight, which gave us some trouble getting to our hotel.

Seoul City Hall

Next to the Seoul metro station, there is a city hall. I didn’t really go into the building. But the look from outside is enough to show how cool this place is. During one of the nights here, I also saw a bunch of people protesting for something I don’t even understand. And there are tons of police standing around the city hall.

Deoksugung Palace

Across from the City Hall, there is a palace called Deoksugung Palace. The front gate is called Dae Han Mun as it is written in the picture. This palace was inhabited by various Korean royalties until the colonial period around the turn of the 20th century. It is one of the “Five Grand Palaces” built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty. Inside the palace, there are several buildings that were built with natural cryptomeria wood, painted wood, and stucco. Some buildings were built according to Western style too. In addition, there is also the National Museum of Art. This is also where I got the ice cream that I listed above.

King Sejong

Not too far from Deoksugun Palace lies the great statue of King Sejong. King Sejong was a scholar. He promoted cultural, economic and scientific research. He founded han’gul, the Korean script which later evolved into the Korean language today.

On March 14th 2013, my friends and I departed for London for our spring break. I never really got the time and chance to blog this trip because of school work and exams until now. We were there at London for 10 days. In this post, I will suggest the things to do when you get a chance to visit London in the near future.

Food

English Breakfast

When travelling, one of the most important things is the food there. You want to get a taste of how the local people eat their food and what do they eat. When you visit England, most people will want to try the so called English Breakfast. We did too actually. After searching for the most popular English Breakfast restaurant in Soho, London, we found a place called the Breakfast Club. Just like the reviews said, the line never ends. We stayed outside and waited for more than an hour, but I think it was worth it. Here is a picture of the breakfast I ordered. Don’t drool on your keyboard though.

Fish and Chips

In addition to English Breakfast, the other famous dish you must try is Fish and Chips. Even though we couldn’t find the most famous fish and chips restaurant, the one we been to was cheap and delicious too. At Famous 3 Kings, a sport bar, we got 2 orders of fish and chips for just £11. I really miss this now…

Nasi Goreng

One of the nights, we went to a Malaysian restaurant located in China Town. The restaurant was called Rasa Sayang. I think it means “Feel the Love” in Malaysian. They have this Milo chocolate drink that I haven’t had in a while. It also contain the tapioca bubble. I ordered Nasi Goreng which is “Fried Rice” and it was quite delicious. I would recommend this place for people that want to try Malaysian food.

Places

Sherlock Holmes’ Residential

If you are a super Sherlock Holmes’ fan, then this is place is a Must for you to visit. Located at 221B Baker Street, you can walk up and down the street and enjoy the sunny day as well as buy souvenirs for other Sherlock Holmes’ fans.

Stamford Bridge

One of the most popular sports in England is football. It is also one of my favorite sports. A Chelsea fan can never miss the stadium we went to see. Located at London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, it is also the home ground of Chelsea Football Club. We went there when Chelsea was playing in the stadium, but we didn’t get to go in to watch. All I remember was that after the game, you can see everyone where blues storming out of the stadium.

London Eye

After seeing Singapore Flyer last summer, London Eye wasn’t as impressive. It is said that Singapore Fyler is 165 meters tall while London Eye is only 120 meters tall. I didn’t get to ride Singapore Flyer last summer but I did get to ride the London Eye this time. When we were there, it was Saint Patrick’s Day, so the Eye was green. I also heard that during Valentine’s Day, the Eye is red. But during regular nights, it is normally blue.

Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock by the Palace of Westminster in London. The tower is now officially called the Elizabeth Tower, after being renamed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Because it has become one of the most prominent symbols of London, travelers now come to witness it’s greatness.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge was built from 1886 to 1894, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, hence the name, Tower Bridge. There is a old castle next to it as well. We visited the old castle and I took the picture of Tower Bridge from it.

Harrods

Harrods is a huge luxury department store with more than 5 floors located in Brompton Road in Knightsbridge. I think everyone that visits London should visit here because this is one of the kinds. But, please don’t break anything here because this is the place only the riches can go -.- It is because everything in the mall is expensive as HECK. I saw a super HDTV that goes up to £20,000 and a watch that goes up to $130,000.

Science Museum

Located in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, is a huge museum with 5 different floors. If you plan to come here, please allocate a couple days for just the museums. There are also other museums around it. It took us 2 hours to walk only 2 floor of this Science Museum.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter

Speaking of Harry Potter, I also took a train to Watford Junction railway station to visit the Harry Potter tour. In there, there are costumes worn by the characters, the dining hall, the movie effects, Diagon Alley, magical creatures, castles, pictures, etc… Here is a huge castle model and a beautiful dragon.

King’s Cross St. Pancras Station

This is a huge train statio like the Penn Station in New York. I came here to take a train to Cambridge to visit an old friend from elementary school. In addition, the 9 3/4 train platform to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is also located here. It is also the train station where they filmed the first Harry Potter movie series.

Madame Tussauds™

This Madame Tussauds in London was quite different from the one in New York. Even though they have the similar entrance with celebrities standing in a ball scene, the rest isn’t the same. I met Robert Downey Jr. “in person”… and Iron Man :) After the wax people, there was also a Scream House where there are real people jumping out of nowhere to scare the HECK out of you in a dark scary place. Quite an adventure… Lastly, there was also a Marvel 4D movie that featured Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc…

Interesting Facts

Oyster Card

The thing that I am most impressed in London is it’s transportation service. With a card called the Oyster Card, we can get underground tube fares, overground train fares, bus fares and put it on the Oyster Card. It is extremely convenient. We got a limited edition one too!

Military Time

Everywhere in London, they tend to use military time. Very interesting.

Paid Toilets

Unlike the US restroom, where they are free to use, in London, some public toilets requires you to put a few pence to use it. I am not surprised because most public toilets in Malaysia ask you to pay too.

Basements

This is the most bizarre thing. Most restaurants in London has a basement which normally is twice as big as the first floor of the restaurant. WEIRD…

Conclusion

That basically concludes this blog post about London. Feel free to drop me a comment below. Hope you enjoy reading it. Thanks! :)

Back in the days, the Asians believe that the human body contains an important life energy called the Qi. Qi is the thread connecting all being and it takes countless forms. Qi is carried throughout the body with help of Meridians. There are fourteen main meridians in the human body and they are composed of acupuncture points that form a specific pathway. Therefore, when there are sickness occurs, the Asians believe that it is because some pathway of meridians is blocked and Qi is unable to circulate properly. To regulate the flow, they believe acupuncture is needed.

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient art of healing that dates back to at least 2,500 years. It has been widely practiced in China and many other Asian countries. Acupuncture emphasizes on the natural healing of the body. It involves stimulating acupuncture points by the insertion of very fine, stainless steel needles. By doing that, it will regulate the flow of Qi and blood, get rid of blockage and relieve the pain and illnesses.

Two years ago, I sprained my lower back by lifting heavy things. It made my daily routine difficult. Getting out and in of bed was miserable. So my dad took me to get acupuncture at NY. The doctor started by putting needles on my back and I just lied down on my stomach for 30 minutes. Then he removed the needles and massaged my back. Magically, my lower back got much better the next day.

Two days ago, for no reason, my back hurts again. Actually, maybe it is not because of no reason. It might be because of the way I work on my assignments. Sitting in a position for a long time without moving can be bad. I must learn to stop doing that and move once in a while. Because of this, I went to get acupuncture for the second time in my life. Not suprisingly, it worked again and my back is getting better.

Although there aren’t really any scientific explanation for acupuncture and there are a few theories that question the effect of acupuncture, I personally believe in it. Why?? I guess it is because it works for me and we Asians are best at what we do. :)

There is a Chinese saying - 病从口入 (pinyin: bìng cóng kǒu rù) which literally means sickness enters from the mouth. Yes. In my opinion, the causes to various sicknesses may be because of the eating habits of the people. One common example I can think of is stroke. Fast foods that are high in fat and cholesterol can build up plaque in arteries over time, causing blockage. When blood can’t be carry to the brain, it will result to a stroke. In order to live life to the fullest, I believe it is best to have a healthy body and mind by starting with a healthy eating habit and boycott FAST FOOD!

Breakfast is the most important meals of the day. That’s what they always say. But I do agree to that. Many of the young people these days do not eat breakfast because many of them sleep in, and thus skipping the morning hours that was supposed to be breakfast hours. Even when some wake up early in the morning, they still tend to skip breakfast because they are rushing to go to school or work. There are three benefits of eating breakfast in the morning.

• Warms up the Metabolism!

  When you put food in your body in the morning, it sends a message to the brain telling it start working on it. This wakes up the metabolism so that it is ready to work throughout the day.

• Starts the day with a pretty good Mood!

  With a nutritious meal, we won’t get hungry in the morning. NOT hungry = happy. It also provides us with plenty of energy to go through the day, indirectly keep us bright and optimistic.

• Recharge!

  Just like our phone, we need to charge it in order for it to work. Breakfast replenish the energy we used up since last night dinner. By recharging the brain and body, we’ll be more efficient in doing anything. We’ll pay better attention at school or work better at our daily routine.

Breakfast can be as easy as eating a fruit or milk over cereal. Over the past months, I have adopted the habit of eating whole wheat sandwiches and an apple every morning when commuting to school.

In addition to having breakfast in the morning to have a healthier life style, exercise is another important factor. There are a lot of benefits of exercising. Here is two for example:

• Improves mood.

  Physical activity stimulates chemicals in our body that may make us feel happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance when exercise regularly, thus boosting our confidence and self-esteem.

• More energy!

  Regular physical activity can also improve our muscle strength and boost endurance. When exercising, our body deliver oxygen and nutrients to our body tissues, helping the cardiovascular system work more efficiently. With a more efficient heart and lungs, we will have more energy to face all kinds of chores.

Finally a good night sleep is also needed for a healthier life style. Before 12am is the best time for us young people. Sleep early and wake up early is the ideal formula, but not many people do that these days. I am guilty of it myself too. Going to bed late but I do tend to wake up early in the morning.

I finally got to go back to Malaysia after 6 years. Things seemed so different from last time but yet feel familiar. The first thing I felt when exiting the airport is the heat. Malaysia is located right on the equator. Therefore the only season the whole year is summer. It is always around 80F or 28C. The weather is also unpredictable. It can rain all of the sudden, without any warning.

In this trip, I got to meet a lot of relatives that I didn’t see for a long time. There are a lot of new cousins who I didn’t even get to see because they weren’t born 6 years ago. I was also really excited to see my friends from elementary school. We met multiple times for movies, food, or just to talk.

There are so much delicious food in Malaysia. I tried to have as much unique food there as possible. There are chicken rice, radish cake, veggie bun, milo ice, bread chicken with curry, flour soup, nasi lemak, etc…

I had two sub-trips when I was there. One was to hot spring and waterfall at Kampar with my friends. The other one was a road trip to Singapore. On the way to Singapore, we stopped at Melaka and Johor Bahru. In Singapore, we went to Science Center and Universal Studio. The transformers ride at Universal Studio was really impressive.