Big Idea day 1

Long queue for ceratin sections of the Big Idea region. It was 1.45 pm at the time I reached Plaza Singapura after knocking off from work.


Event hosted by a deejay named Young. Last seen hosting Media Fiesta in early March.


Fans playing some puzzle re-arrangement game.



Channel 8 artistes grace the stage for first segment... Darren Lim, Ong Ai Leng and EELYN!!! They later went to the Scan n Win Booth to mingle with the people there. Oh ya, I got sabo'ed on stage by Young and ended up co-winner of the Lucky 7 game with Naomi!! :-D


Cast of "Red Thread"... Adrian and Aileen. By the end of Thursday's episode, we now know that Alex Sung is the elder son of Kong Wah and Suzanne. I felt it would have been better if least 2 more cast members could come, like Celest, Julian or Tracy.


Cast of Fighting Spiders... 7 of them!! Edwin (Lee Soon Lee), Shijie (Charlie Leong), Frederick (Peter Livingston), Janice (Mabel Lee), Bobby Tonelli (David Livingston), Kimberly (Yi Ling) and Sonnia (Samantha).


Cast of Polo Boys... Adrian and Nat, who play father and son.


Cast of "Sayang Sayang", Michelle Chong and John Lee (younger brother of Dick Lee).



Game time... the "Fighting Spiders" team versus the "Red Polo Sayang" team. The bigger team won obviously.


Yep, this was how Nat recated when he saw me among the crowd... cute right? :-p


Tha tall and dashing Bobby posing for fans. Some of you might remember him as Paul Robertson, the European lawyer who married Yueniang in "The Little Nyonya". Just don't ask him about that rumor started by Wan Bao...


That very tall and lean guy is my army friend Lee Xuncheng, he was a security guard for the event!! I found it rather ironic cos years ago during NS, I joked with my bunkmates that XC could become a security guard due to his height and no-nonsense persona... never thought that it would turn out to be real!! :-D


The cast of Fighting Spiders taking pics with lots of fans

Hurray, I managed to take pic with Bobby! :-)

For more photos, do go to these 2 links...
Part 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115608&id=556354026
Part 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115622&id=556354026

The underdog scores bigtime for AI 8!!

Seems like the underdog-beating-the-hot-fave concept had been repeated less than a month after Star Awards 2009 (in terms of Best Actress results)... only this time, it took place in the United States, and the result wasdetermined after a record 100 million votes.

That's right, I'm talking about American Idol! The dark horse Kris Allen beat hot favorite Adam Lambert to become the 8th American Idol!! Not only that, he was the first married individual to clinch that title. I believe that majority of the fans prefered an everyman of humble and decent background with earnest sincerity within his performances. I am not against Adam although I don't really like him due to his brashness, goth makeup and tendency to scream like mad (NOT due to his sexuality btw, though that may be part of the reason)... still, I have to admit that he was a better performer than Kris in terms of vocal ability and overall package, I was almost certain that Adam was gonna win hands-down. But in the end, I guess it was the overall likeability factor that helped decide the outcome. Somewhat reminded me a little of Hady vs Jonathan (only that both of them were on nearly equal footing back in 2006).

Oddly enough, the Final 3 consisted of 3 guys of different backgrounds... a young married man (Allen), a widower (Danny Gokey) and a man with a heavily debated sexual orientation (Lambert). Not that I have anything against those who might be err... gay. I'm sure these 3 will have a great future ahead of them... look at Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson (to name a few). They may not have won the American Idol of their respective years, but they still made it big in the end.

Oh yeah, and who can forget the time when Kara DioGuardi truly stole the show by giving us hot-blooded men a moment to remember (and a truly amazing one at that!!)... when she snatched the limelight away from that bikini bimbo Kristall with a much better rendition of "Vision of Love", and then ending the ssegment with style by tearing off her dress to reveal a taut body in a steamy black bikini!! That movement alone left Kristall totally speechless and sent her back in the gutter, nyuk nyuk! Yeah baby, Kara's one sizzling hot mama indeed (even though she doesn't have any kids yet)... I do hope she will return as judge for Season 9!! Thumbs up to Kara all the way :-D

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol_(season_8)

My thoughts on "Angels and Demons"

Yesterday after knocking off from a busy day at work, I went to Iluma once more, this time to watch "Angels and Demons", sequel to the much lauded 2006 film "Da Vinci Code". Obviously the film is a lot different from the novel, for some important plots have been removed to avoid controversy among the Catholic Church (like how the film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" did with the myth of Jesus being "married" to Mary Magdalene and having descendants; that plot alone was absolutely stupid).

It all starts with the death of the original pope as well as an antimatter canister being stolen from the CERN labs. Worst of all, the 4 cardinals touted as hot favorites to succeed the late pope had been kidnapped and placed at indifferent historical landmarks. The carmalengo Patrick McKenna played by Ewan "Obi-Wan" MacGregor seemed to be a'n angel of sorts' when he assisted Robert Langdon (played by the versatile Tom Hanks), Vittoria Vetra (played by some hot Israeli babe named Ayelet Zurer) and the FBI in locating the stolen antimatter canister, then flying a helicopter as high as possible and escaping from it in a parachute before the canister exploded in midair, preventing a calamity from occurring at Vatican City. But then Langdon and Dr Vetra eventually found out the truth that Patrick was behind the death of the previous pope as well as 3 of 4 cardinals (each branded with marks of the 4 elements, disposed of by a hired assassin who looked a bit like Christian Cage), and that he was also behind the theft of the antimatter canister... he did all this with hopes that he could be ordained as the new Pope. Which means to say that instead of being the so-called savior proclaimed by the people, Patrick was actually a demon in nature (something like a 'wolf in sheep's clothing')... to think that he could repay the sincerity of the papal conclave by hurting them and plotting against them. And when Patrick realized that his secret had been exposed, he chose the coward's way out by immolating himself in the basement of the church.

Overall this film is many times better than "The Da Vinci Code", not to forget more action-paced and suspense. I found the crazy dash across the various streets of Italy somewhat like a 'wild goose chase'... but had it not been for the bravery and quick wit of Robert Langdon, the church would still be kept in the dark on Patrick's evil plans. Best part of all was, the public never got to know the actual truth, and that's probably the best way to salvage the reputation of the church. I rate this film 7 out of 10 stars, quite worth the watch for anyone ranging from Christian believers to people who would love to go to Rome on holiday. I myself would love to go to Rome too :-)

P.S. Firdaus is truly a demon due to what he did... I could go on mentioning a few more names who share a similar trait, but truth is I'd rather be putting a lot more focus on the angels (from true friends to fellow Christians to fave artistes) who have left a lasting impression to me. In a good sense that is :-)

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons_(film)

Shocking discovery over a murder case...

Happy Birthday to Candyce Toh

I was horrified to read the news of a heartless man being sentenced for beating up and killing the son of his girlfriend in today's copy of The New Paper... I was even more horrified when I saw the name and the photo of the monster responsible for the boy's death...

FIRDAUS ABDULLAH. He happened to be from the same unit as myself during NS!!! :-O

I don't know this Firdaus well, mostly due to the fact that his ORD came abt 4 mths after I joined SOCE MTL at Nee Soon Camp. I only knew him to be a rather quiet, patient and humble fella who got along quite well with the other people from the same batch as himself. Little would we know that in the years to come, he would become a hot-tempered and violent person in years to come, all because of his jealousy and inability to control his emotions. It shouldn't come as any surprise that people can change all of a sudden, but his fall from grace is the last thing I could ever imagine.

According to the New Paper, Firdaus was in a steady relationship with his girlfriend N (names shortened to protect their identities) who had been separated from her ex-husband (father of the boy), but he got jealous in late 2007 bcos she seemed to be closer to her son Iz than to him. As a result, he became hot-tempered and bitter, and he often got into arguments with N, til she couldn't take it anymore and wanted him to get out of the house so she can find Iz a better stepfather.

Then on 14th January 2008, N made the fatal mistake by leaving Iz under the care of Firdaus, while she went to court to settle her divorce proceedings. And that's when Firdaus let his anger get the better of him... what he did to the poor boy (who was to turn 3 on that fateful day), it is too horrifying and inhumane to even elaborate here. But I can tell you that Iz's injuries were so severe, he was declared brain-dead and died in hospital 4 lays later without recovering.

What Firdaus did was absolutely unforgivable and too shocking beyond comprehension. Instead of getting the death sentence for murder, the charge placed on him earlier this week was reduced to causing grevious hurt and ill-treating a helpless child. 7 years in jail and 12 strokes is all that the heartless Firdaus would be slapped with, but even that isn't gonna bring the poor boy back to life. The grief felt by the boy's parents is something that will take many years to get over with. All because of one person who became a monster and snuffed out their only son within a few days. I would prefer it if he got life imprisonment instead. With a criminal record such as this, there will be no second chance for Firdaus, and he will be forever labelled as a bane of humanity. Who knows he might end his own life like the Malaysian guy who killed his girlfriend's daughter?

This is the second time I had heard of someone I know get a criminal record, the first one being an former secondary schoolmate of mine being jailed for molest and robbery some 8 years ago. I may not know what happened to many of the other people I have come across in my life, but I certainly hope I don't hear a similar case such as this again in the near future.

At last, a job!!

Happy Birthday to Ya Hui and Juin Jack

I believe it must have been pre-planned by God that I secured my first full-time job at a Christian book warehouse. I can't exactly state the name of the warehouse, but i can tell you that it is located somewhere at the West region... and the best part is, I can take a direct bus straight home after work! Indeed my patience had paid off after 3 mths of unemployment. But I am currently under 3 mths probation, and due to the fact that I work 5.5 days per week (9 to 6 for weekdays, half day on Sat depending on shifts) and can only use the com at night, I will be blogging less frequently. I realized that too much use of Internet time can distort my mindset and rob me of my main priorities. So praise the Lord that I could get this job, and I am sure this is a good opportunity to be better at managing my time as well as to walk closer with God, so long as I continue to believe in good things to come. :-)

P.S. There's something else that I found out, but it's too confidential to even be shared with anyone.

Alive event at Tampines Mall

The turnout for this event at the Open Plaza of Tampines Mall was quite a disappointment... perhaps not many people knew about this event, esp since it was held at the 'unseen region' of Tampines Mall. The most memorable time I went there was when the Wildcard contestants for Singapore Idol season 2 graced the stage for autograph session. I got to the place at abt 4.25 pm, and saw a few youngsters sing other songs. The plump Malay girl sang "Take A Bow", she obviously sounded a lot better than Rihanna (who can forget the 60 minutes of disappointment last year). Then there's this rather geeky guy who sang 3 songs, all in overkill mode. But he did quite well for the last song "You Raise Me Up".



Finally at around 1655 hrs, Jasmine came out to perform! I forgot the name of the Chinese song she sang, but I certainly know that the second song she sang was Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You". She still looked as 'cutey cutey' as before, last time I saw her was at NUS for Stardust semi-finals. Oh yes, her parents were rooting for her at the Open Plaza as well. :-)


And yep, I obviosuly did take picture with her! After that, Jasmine took group picture with the volunteers... I find the last 2 girls quite sweet too (blushes). After Jasmine and her manager left the place, Ishardi and I had dinner at the food court located at the same level. Then we went separate routes back home.