Happy Birthday to Val Kilmer and F.Firdaus
Rest in peace, Gus Dur Abdulrahman Wahid (he passed away last night)
Also happens to be the 6th anniversary of Anita Mui's passing...
After much consideration, I have decided that I won't be posting here anymore; instead, I will be shifting to Facebook. I find it extremely difficult to think of anything to type, due to lack of motivation, lack of time and also due to the fact that I've been spending most of the time on Facebook, more so than here on Blogger. However, I will continue to provide sub-links to photo albums. Depending on the situation, I may provide updates, but it won't be as frequent as before.
Ok ok, if you're the kay-poh type and really want to know what I've been up to as of late, I went to VivoCity to catch a sneak peek at the Channel 8 countdown rehearsals. Artistes present there were Elvin, Jeanette (sexy babe!!), Eelyn (sweetie pie), Zhenhuan, Constance, Geping, Huifang, Aileen, Dasmond, Ping Hui, Joanne (whoa man!!), Yaodong, Belinda, Peixuan, Pat Mok, Priscelia (looking hawt in pink shorts), Paige Chua (great figure!!), Ann Kok, Cynthia Koh, Andie Chen, Huang Wenyong, Pan Lingling, and so on. I had dinner at Superdog first, then went up to the amphitheater at abt 7 pm... stayed around til about 9.45 pm. Got abt 5 to 6 fellow fans there, but 2 of them left halfway. I managed to take pic with Joanne at long last (last time I took pic with her was on 26th April, after Star Awards 2009, which was also after her birthday)... couldn't take pic with Aileen due to the interference of that stupid trio (Melvin, Paul and some fatty whose name I can't recall).
As for today, I will be going to The Float at Marina Bay to attend the Channel 5 2010 Countdown. Here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year...
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
My thoughts on the year 2009...
Happy Birthday to Tiger Woods, Deborah Chan and Marcus Ng...
(Yes, I do mean THAT Tiger Woods!!! 'Nuff said.)
Rest in peace, "Dr Death" Steve Williams (he died ytd after a 6-yr battle with throat cancer)
What a year indeed. So many ups and downs. Economic crisis, AWARE controversy, and even the cotroversies surrounding the former Miss Singapore World 2009. yes, Im talking abt the tramp who invented the ultimate word BOOMZ.
Firstly I wanna talk abt myself. For me, life has been quite smooth sailing overall... the year started with a rather bad patch, with me being released from my temporary position in EBIS in late January, right after Chinese New Year. Of course, it didn't quite sit well with me for a while. Come to think abt it, I seriously loathe going to work in formal attire, plus a desk job is so not what I want. The months February to May have been kinda mix of boredom and frustration... boredom cos I couldnt do anything much other than surf Net or attend animation classes, and frustattion cos I couldn't get a full-time job.
And then came the Hope Fair at Faith Methodist Church in early May, a fair meant for people looking for jobs or trying to cope with retrenchment. Had I not picked out a few flyers there and volunteered to go for walk-in interview for one of them, I probably would be slacking away for 7 months. After being accepted into SKS Books in mid May, the rest is history. I learnt to strike a balance between work commitments and weekend events.
And then of course, there's the wonderful friends I made in 2009, not forgetting those I am still in contac with since 2005. Mostly MediaCorp fans that is. AND not forgetting the Top 12 Singapore Idols... the ones I like more are Sylvia, Tabitha, Malaque, Nurul Huda, Charles, Faizal and Farhan. In fact, had it not been for Season 3, I wouldn't even have met Faizal, whom I had known 3 years prior!!
We should not forget those famous people who had passed away... people like Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Stephen Gately, Patirck Swayze, David Carradine, Jade Goody, Ted Kennedy, Brittany Murphy and Eki Fatu aka Umaga, to name a few. The passing of Michael Jackson on June 25th is obviously one that has shocked me (and everyone around the world) the most. I mean look, he is the King of Pop, the most original artiste in te music world, and yet also the most controversial person, with his ever-changing appearance and eccentricties making headlines.
Here's looking forward to a better 2010 :-)
(Yes, I do mean THAT Tiger Woods!!! 'Nuff said.)
Rest in peace, "Dr Death" Steve Williams (he died ytd after a 6-yr battle with throat cancer)
What a year indeed. So many ups and downs. Economic crisis, AWARE controversy, and even the cotroversies surrounding the former Miss Singapore World 2009. yes, Im talking abt the tramp who invented the ultimate word BOOMZ.
Firstly I wanna talk abt myself. For me, life has been quite smooth sailing overall... the year started with a rather bad patch, with me being released from my temporary position in EBIS in late January, right after Chinese New Year. Of course, it didn't quite sit well with me for a while. Come to think abt it, I seriously loathe going to work in formal attire, plus a desk job is so not what I want. The months February to May have been kinda mix of boredom and frustration... boredom cos I couldnt do anything much other than surf Net or attend animation classes, and frustattion cos I couldn't get a full-time job.
And then came the Hope Fair at Faith Methodist Church in early May, a fair meant for people looking for jobs or trying to cope with retrenchment. Had I not picked out a few flyers there and volunteered to go for walk-in interview for one of them, I probably would be slacking away for 7 months. After being accepted into SKS Books in mid May, the rest is history. I learnt to strike a balance between work commitments and weekend events.
And then of course, there's the wonderful friends I made in 2009, not forgetting those I am still in contac with since 2005. Mostly MediaCorp fans that is. AND not forgetting the Top 12 Singapore Idols... the ones I like more are Sylvia, Tabitha, Malaque, Nurul Huda, Charles, Faizal and Farhan. In fact, had it not been for Season 3, I wouldn't even have met Faizal, whom I had known 3 years prior!!
We should not forget those famous people who had passed away... people like Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Stephen Gately, Patirck Swayze, David Carradine, Jade Goody, Ted Kennedy, Brittany Murphy and Eki Fatu aka Umaga, to name a few. The passing of Michael Jackson on June 25th is obviously one that has shocked me (and everyone around the world) the most. I mean look, he is the King of Pop, the most original artiste in te music world, and yet also the most controversial person, with his ever-changing appearance and eccentricties making headlines.
Here's looking forward to a better 2010 :-)
Monday, December 28, 2009
Dismayed with the results...
All I can say about the results for Singapore Idol season 3 last night is WAH PIANG EHHH!!! Thank God then hat I chose to go for the pastors' farewell party in church instead of go to the Indoor Stadium... cos seriously speaking, if I had chosen to go to the Indoor Stadium instead, I might just get cardiac arrest like what happened to Sezairi's mum after the results were announced (sorry, Auntie!). But in spite of the heartache I felt, I was nonetheless able to ahndle my emotions well, I did not burst into tears or throw a huge fit.
Looking at the amount of mixed reaction stemming from the results of the Grand Finale, it seemed quite evident that people wanted to see change, like what President Obama heavily emphasized many times during his current run as President of the United States. We can only wait and see what the year 2010 has in store for Sezairi... all I know is that he's got a heavy responsibility to bear, to impress his family and friends with his upcoming debut album, and at the same time deal with the negativity of being the 3rd Malay guy to be crowned the Singapore Idol. He wil forever bear the burden of being labelled the "guy who beat the girl to win the SI crown" or "the 3rd male Malay winner", and the post-Idol debates will probably linger on for the next few months. There are a few possible reasons as to why he won... the country in general felt that his performances were better, or the Malay community is very close-knit, thus their voting prowess is much more than just Virtual Insanity, so to speak.
Speaking about Sylvia, I really do hope she is offered a contract by Universal Music Singapore soon, or maybe even Hype Records (but this may not be possible, for Ken Lim did state in an earlier interview that his "plate" is already full). Although she lost out to Sezairi, I am still very happy for her to make it this far. Second place is already a very big achievement... I mean, look at Clay Aiken! He may have lost out to Ruben Studdard in American Idol 2, but he ended up more successful than Ruben. Even Jennifer Hudson who got booted out rather early in AI 5 managed to score an Academy Award for her acting debut in "Dreamgirls". Lesson learnt: It's not about winning, it's about giving your all and knowing deep down inside that no matter what the outcome, your family, friends and fans will still love you all the same.
To bring the otherwise mediocre Season 3 franchise to a good closure, I can only make this simple request to the MediaCorp producers... NO SEASON 4 PLEASE!!! Enough tears and sweat have been shed, enough money has been wasted on votes, and last but not least, enough damage has already been done fo the past 3 to 4 months.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Singapore Idol Finals Showdown tonight: my thoughts on the finalists
Happy Birthday to Daniel Ong and Dai Yang Tian
At 8 pm tonight, it's gonna be a Battle of Venus vs Mars, Powerhouse vs Soulman, Sylvia vs Sezairi at the Indoor Stadium... followed by the Results at 11 pm, with lots of exciting performances by some of the Idols from Season 2, the season 2 winner Hady Mirza (who is also the Asian Idol), Charice from the Phillipines, and yes the very first Singapore Idol TAUFIK BATISAH!!
On December 2nd, after a tumultous 2 to 3 mths of Spectaulars (with strong female singers being booted out in 4 consecutive weeks) history was made for the first time with 2 girls and 1 guy in the Top 3, following the elimination of Charles Wong (good in beatboxing, but his average vocal range wasn't in par with certain genre). That feat alone guaranteed at least one girl a spot in the Finals. On December 8th, that spot was granted to Sylvia Anne Ratonel, making her the first ever female in SI history to make it to the Finals (the Top 2 for seasons 1 and 2 were guys... Taufik vs Sly, Hady vs Jonathan).
Sylvia has proven to be a versatile individual during the Spectaculars, able to handle slow or fast songs alike. She has got the x-factor, the looks (yes, her great figure included), the voice, the personality... the moment she opens her mouth to sing, you will be totally blown away by her performance thereafter. Sylvia is perhaps the only female contestant among the Top 12 who can truly mesmerize me and keep my eyes glued onto her (Tabby and Malaque also wowed me a bit, but they weren't very consistent). If all goes well, Sylvia might just become the first ever female to win the Singapore Idol crown (as well as the 3rd poly graduate to win, following Taufik from SP and Hady from TP). It will indeed be a dream come true for this young lady who hadn't had an easy life, and nearly got booted off from the competition a couple of times.
But come to look at the flip side of the matter... what if Sezairi wins? Will there be a huge negative backlash? Highly possible. Sezairi is a great singer too (given his years of performing at clubs), and a unique musician, he does deserve his spot in the Top 2 as much as Sylvia IMO (and I know lots of Tabby supporters beg to differ). Matter of fact, among the 6 male finalists with mostly mediocre voices (Duane Ho being the worst), he's probably the best of the guys. But in spite of the large fanbase he has, there will always be people who hate him: Sezairi's received tons of death threats on his Facebook fanpage right after the last Spectaculars, especially the one from a rabid Tabby supporter saying that he will "assassinate Sezairi at Jurong Point for stealing Tabby's spot" (narrow-minded losers). The main problem here is, in spite of his originalty and musical background, the main thing standing in his way more than anything else is his race. Already we had 2 Malay winners, their names you should know. If Sezairi wins this (let me clear the air a bit... as much I want Sylvia to win, I am also quite cool with Sez winning, I'm not against it whatsoever), he will be the 3rd guy to win this, and the 3rd Malay as well. Many people will then go, "wah piang ehhh, not another Malay guy again... and I thought the girl was so much better lor!" So you can say that the race issue is something that is impossible to avoid. Imagne the amount of negativity Sezairi had to deal with in months to come...
So who will win the contract with Universal Music... Sylvia or Sezairi? The deciding factor is based on 2 things... the winning single "Touched By An Angel" written by Ken Lim, and the total number of votes tallied by the whole of Singapore between 8 to 10 pm later tonight. Another question is what will happen to the one who doesn't win the title... will he/she be forgotten in a few yrs time like season 1 runner-up Sylvester Sim (offered a contract with Hype at same time as Taufik, but was released less than 2 years later due to personal reasons) or season 2 runner-up Jonathan Leong (signed contract with Hype Records a few months after Hady, but went MIA recently, debut album undergoing development hell).
On a side note, who knows that this might be the very last season of Singapore Idol... it wasn't easy for MediaCorp to bring back this franchise for a third season (after 2.5 years of absence) due to a variety of reasons (small talent pool in Singapore being one of them, another reason being too many similar competitions in recent years, like Project Superstar or Anugerah). If Singapore Idol should come back for Season 4 in abt 2 years time however, may I make a simple request that the producers make the cost for 1 vote via SMS or phone call much cheaper... like 10 cents per vote, pleasssse???
What I did during Christmas week
Merry Christmas everyone!
Man I had a rather crazy long weekend... went for family gathering, went to see the first 2 Singapore Idols, went to see one of the Singapore Idol 3 finalists at Centrepoint...
24th December, Friday (Christmas Eve)
As always, the annual family gathering was held on Xmas Eve (with the exception of last year). I actually spent most of the time at home, then went out to A-sor's house with Bro... upon reaching there, I was very surprised to see HER yet again (turns out that filming for next drama starts next month). The 20 plus of us had a great meal of shepherd's pie, turkey, ham, pasta, roti prata slices, salad, etc. We did a bit of games and carolling, but the carolling session was cut short by a private meeting outside the house by some of the family members, most specially HER (okok, it's Miss RE!). Obviously I took pic with RE yet again, but like I said before, I won't be uploading the pic online at all, be it here or Facebook or anywhere else. What I can tell you though is that she was in grey long-sleeved top, white shirt inside, and beige shorts... I couldn't help but stare at her legs during carolling (yoops, I hope she doesn't read this!!). I realized that I wasn't able to rekindle that flame I had for her years ago (as in not so high over her presence at the party)... maybe bcos I had grown older plus wiser (not to forget that I am now more interested in another girl). Bro and I left the place at 10.15 pm soon after majority had gone off, reached home at 10 plus via Circle Line and then Bus 53.
25th December, Friday (Christmas itself, what else?)
Bro and I woke up very early and went to church to attend Christmas service. This was to be Reverend Peter Koh's and Reverend Tay's very last time spending Christmas service at PLMC, after which they will be transferred to their respective churches w.e.f. January 2nd. After service ended, Uncle Paul drove Bro and myself (as well as his daughter Sarah, meoww) to some shopping centre to have Korean cuisine for lunch... it didn't take me long to realize that it was the very same place I had gone to alongside Mum earlier in the year!!
After we were done with lunch, Uncle Paul dropped me off at the nearest MRT station, where I took train to Chinatown... went to buy Undertaker figure at China Square Central for 20 dollars, and looked around the toystore selling Power Ranger Megazords. Then took long train ride to Expo... went inside Hall 6B to await the arrival of the 2nd Singapore Idol/first Asian Idol Hady Mirza. Alas, he came rather late at 3.40 pm... could have been the traffic jam outside or something. He sang 2 Malay songs and an English song, teased the female fans a bit, took photos with a few ladies, then got escorted out at abt 4.35 pm.
I had early dinner at Subway, went into Metro Mega-Sale at Hall 4, bought a Joker action figure for only 5 bucks, then went to the chairs at the taxi foyer to take a short nap. Woke up at 7, met up with Syazali and we went into Hall 6B to await the arrival of Taufik Batsah, the first Singapore Idol. Before Taufik's arrival, we were treated to a carpet auction that was rather dull, a kid recital segment, and a dozen 6-yr old kids dancing to Michael Jackson's "Black or White". It then occurred to me that Christmas Day was exactly 6 months since the day of MJ's tragic passing. Taufik came at 8.45 pm (not so bad, unlike Hady's 40-min latecoming, hmmph!!), sang 3 Malay songs, teased the girls a bit, and then was escorted out of the place to tha back door, with lots of fans mobbing him even to the outside.
Reached home at 10 plus, to see Bro and a huge group of friends (6 guys and 2 girls) playing some funky music with Rock Band. Lo and behold, one of my army friends Maurice was among them!! They stayed on til abt 2 am... really wild but fun nonetheless. We all had a great time.
26th December, Saturday (aka Boxing Day)
Yesterday... stayed at home for the most part of the day, uploading pictures like mad. It was during that period of Internet surfing that I found out abt Syltra Lee having a performance at Centrepoint at 8 pm. If you're wondering who Syltra is, she's one of the Top 13 of Singapore Idol Season 3, from same Piano Show batch as Charles, Farhan, Nurul, Tabitha and Malaque. Unfortunately, she was also the first of the 13 to be eliminated, before Justin Jap that is. As to why she's not involved in the SI Finals or the 2010 Countdown at Marina Bay, that's becuase she had totally relinquished her Si commitments, she stated in her Facebook page that she wasn't happy with the horrible voting system.
Anyway, I had quick dinner at Plaza Singapura, then reached Centrepoint at 6.30 pm... loitered around the place for a bit, then spotted Syltra with her parents and sister (whoa, rather big for a 16 yr old!!) at the ground level. She started performing at 8 pm, strumming on acoustic guitar and wowing people of all ages with her powerhouse voice... it's a huge shame that she got booted out so early in the competition, otherwise she could have easily made it to at least Top 4 or even Top 3. Sha sang abt 8 songs in all, some of them Christmas carols, a few classic songs... one of them being "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" which was covered by Sylvia Ratonel during Top 6 Spectaculars!
Right after she finished, I approached Syltra and got her autograph... took 2 pic with her, then left the place, but not before wishing her Merry Christmas. Went around Orchard Road taking pics of the wonderous night scenery... trying not to stare too long at girls in super short pants... readhed home at 10 plus, played a bit with Jinn the kitten, who seemed to get a little scared as of late (he tried to bite me at one point, but I wouldn't let him do it). When I got back home, Bro was jamming away via Rock Band til abt 12 am... he seemed kinda troubled as of late, I wonder if he's alright...
Links to photo albums:
WSF Paradise Event at Expo Hall 6B Part 1- Hady Mirza's appearance
WSF Paradise Event at Expo Hall 6B Part 2- Taufik Batisah's appearance
Syltra Lee at Centrepoint
Man I had a rather crazy long weekend... went for family gathering, went to see the first 2 Singapore Idols, went to see one of the Singapore Idol 3 finalists at Centrepoint...
24th December, Friday (Christmas Eve)
As always, the annual family gathering was held on Xmas Eve (with the exception of last year). I actually spent most of the time at home, then went out to A-sor's house with Bro... upon reaching there, I was very surprised to see HER yet again (turns out that filming for next drama starts next month). The 20 plus of us had a great meal of shepherd's pie, turkey, ham, pasta, roti prata slices, salad, etc. We did a bit of games and carolling, but the carolling session was cut short by a private meeting outside the house by some of the family members, most specially HER (okok, it's Miss RE!). Obviously I took pic with RE yet again, but like I said before, I won't be uploading the pic online at all, be it here or Facebook or anywhere else. What I can tell you though is that she was in grey long-sleeved top, white shirt inside, and beige shorts... I couldn't help but stare at her legs during carolling (yoops, I hope she doesn't read this!!). I realized that I wasn't able to rekindle that flame I had for her years ago (as in not so high over her presence at the party)... maybe bcos I had grown older plus wiser (not to forget that I am now more interested in another girl). Bro and I left the place at 10.15 pm soon after majority had gone off, reached home at 10 plus via Circle Line and then Bus 53.
25th December, Friday (Christmas itself, what else?)
Bro and I woke up very early and went to church to attend Christmas service. This was to be Reverend Peter Koh's and Reverend Tay's very last time spending Christmas service at PLMC, after which they will be transferred to their respective churches w.e.f. January 2nd. After service ended, Uncle Paul drove Bro and myself (as well as his daughter Sarah, meoww) to some shopping centre to have Korean cuisine for lunch... it didn't take me long to realize that it was the very same place I had gone to alongside Mum earlier in the year!!
After we were done with lunch, Uncle Paul dropped me off at the nearest MRT station, where I took train to Chinatown... went to buy Undertaker figure at China Square Central for 20 dollars, and looked around the toystore selling Power Ranger Megazords. Then took long train ride to Expo... went inside Hall 6B to await the arrival of the 2nd Singapore Idol/first Asian Idol Hady Mirza. Alas, he came rather late at 3.40 pm... could have been the traffic jam outside or something. He sang 2 Malay songs and an English song, teased the female fans a bit, took photos with a few ladies, then got escorted out at abt 4.35 pm.
I had early dinner at Subway, went into Metro Mega-Sale at Hall 4, bought a Joker action figure for only 5 bucks, then went to the chairs at the taxi foyer to take a short nap. Woke up at 7, met up with Syazali and we went into Hall 6B to await the arrival of Taufik Batsah, the first Singapore Idol. Before Taufik's arrival, we were treated to a carpet auction that was rather dull, a kid recital segment, and a dozen 6-yr old kids dancing to Michael Jackson's "Black or White". It then occurred to me that Christmas Day was exactly 6 months since the day of MJ's tragic passing. Taufik came at 8.45 pm (not so bad, unlike Hady's 40-min latecoming, hmmph!!), sang 3 Malay songs, teased the girls a bit, and then was escorted out of the place to tha back door, with lots of fans mobbing him even to the outside.
Reached home at 10 plus, to see Bro and a huge group of friends (6 guys and 2 girls) playing some funky music with Rock Band. Lo and behold, one of my army friends Maurice was among them!! They stayed on til abt 2 am... really wild but fun nonetheless. We all had a great time.
26th December, Saturday (aka Boxing Day)
Yesterday... stayed at home for the most part of the day, uploading pictures like mad. It was during that period of Internet surfing that I found out abt Syltra Lee having a performance at Centrepoint at 8 pm. If you're wondering who Syltra is, she's one of the Top 13 of Singapore Idol Season 3, from same Piano Show batch as Charles, Farhan, Nurul, Tabitha and Malaque. Unfortunately, she was also the first of the 13 to be eliminated, before Justin Jap that is. As to why she's not involved in the SI Finals or the 2010 Countdown at Marina Bay, that's becuase she had totally relinquished her Si commitments, she stated in her Facebook page that she wasn't happy with the horrible voting system.
Anyway, I had quick dinner at Plaza Singapura, then reached Centrepoint at 6.30 pm... loitered around the place for a bit, then spotted Syltra with her parents and sister (whoa, rather big for a 16 yr old!!) at the ground level. She started performing at 8 pm, strumming on acoustic guitar and wowing people of all ages with her powerhouse voice... it's a huge shame that she got booted out so early in the competition, otherwise she could have easily made it to at least Top 4 or even Top 3. Sha sang abt 8 songs in all, some of them Christmas carols, a few classic songs... one of them being "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" which was covered by Sylvia Ratonel during Top 6 Spectaculars!
Right after she finished, I approached Syltra and got her autograph... took 2 pic with her, then left the place, but not before wishing her Merry Christmas. Went around Orchard Road taking pics of the wonderous night scenery... trying not to stare too long at girls in super short pants... readhed home at 10 plus, played a bit with Jinn the kitten, who seemed to get a little scared as of late (he tried to bite me at one point, but I wouldn't let him do it). When I got back home, Bro was jamming away via Rock Band til abt 12 am... he seemed kinda troubled as of late, I wonder if he's alright...
Links to photo albums:
WSF Paradise Event at Expo Hall 6B Part 1- Hady Mirza's appearance
WSF Paradise Event at Expo Hall 6B Part 2- Taufik Batisah's appearance
Syltra Lee at Centrepoint
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Cast of Treasure hunter at Plaza Sing
Happy Birthday to Elvin Ng and Yiwen
Start of the Capricorn Star
All I can tell you is that the turnout is INSANE!! All the levels of PS (except the Basement obviously) from Level 1 to 7 were full of people. Especially since the stars for the event are Taiwanese megastars... Jay Chou and Lin Chi-ling. Not to forget the director of the film Peter Chiu. Lin Chi-ling was HAWT, I bet a lot of guys were trying their hardest not to drool at her cleavage, hee hee!! See the aftermath of the front section in front of the stage... lots of rubbish and spillage, sigh.
But in spite of the insane turnout due to the presence of such big names from Asia (most particularly Jay Chou, the crooner who often mumbles through most of his songs and is still struggling with the English language as of now) I won't be watching the film anytime soon, I heard it's quite lousy, perhaps worse than "The Storm Warriors".
Go here to view more photos...
Cast and director of Treasure Hunter at Plaza Singapura
Monday, December 21, 2009
Events attended on 19th and 20th Dec
Happy Birthday to Farhan Shah
Oh dear, yet another celeb had died at a very young age... Britany Murphy :-(((
This was how I spent the weekend for the 3rd week of December...
19th December
Part 1- Elvin Ng birthday-cum-Christmas gathering
I left the house rather early... played with the kitten near my place, then took train to Chinese Garden MRT station, and played with another cat loitering near the main entrance. Abt 30 fans went altogether, some whom I had not seen before. Very strange choice of venue to hold a gathering (La Vella restaurant located in the middle of Jurong Island??)... we almost got our cameras confiscated, but after further negotiations with the security by the committee and Elvin's manager, we managed to get our cameras back. Not to forget that 3 fans nearly couldn't join us cos they only had student passes. Due to the minor fiasco that took place between 12 to 1 pm at the entry point, the end time for the gathering was pushed to 5 plus rather than 4 pm. All of us were famished obviously, so when we reached the restaurant. we immediately started filling our plates and ate to our hearts' delight! The games segment (charades) was hilarious to the max. Followed by birthday celebration (Elvin's birthday is actually on Dec 23rd). Then came individual pic, group pic, autograph session and Q n A segment. Party endd at 5.30 pm, we drove back to Departure Halls to get our ICs back, and we returned to checkpoint at Chinese Garden MRT station.
Part 2- You've Got Mail Singles Party at Dragonfly
In the train, Naomi and myself had a brief chat with sweet and pretty Lisa, before we dropped off at Outram Park station and changed to Harborfront. We had quick dinner at KFC, walked to St James Power Station and registered ourselves into Dragonfly. Got lots of singletons aged between 20 (the minimum age) to maybe 50s... obviously we didn't want to mix with any of them; our main purpose was to see Tracy. Some 6-man local band perform about 6 songs to get the crowd warmed up... Tracy came at 8.40 pm and immediately spotted us standing at the front of the stage. She was one of the gamemasters for some onstage activities (the male host I had seen before at Clarke Quay): Las Ketchup dance and Don't Forget The Lyrics. Quite funny time from the contestants xiah. Tracy left the stage at abt 9.35 pm... Naomi and myself went out of DF to look for her... we eventually found her in front of Bellini signboard chatting with har manager. We gave her gifts and chatted with her for a while. She thanked us, gave us very sweet hugs and got in friend's car out of St James at around 10.15 pm. We also left the place at that time.
20th December
Part 1- Singapore Idol Top 2 at West Mall
Brother and I went for morning service... immediately after that, we left the church and went separate ways; Bro off to work, and myself off to West Mall via train. Met up with Naomi at the control station and we had early lunch at food junction. We then played some games at Timezone arcade, and saw some Tom and Jerry performance at the stage region. Lo and behold, the moment we got down to 1st level, we were spotted by those weirdos Mr NR and Mr EZ... man were they annoying!! We waited for slightly more than an hour... then the Idols (7 of them) arrived at 2.45 pm, with loud screams everywhere. The event started proper at exactly 3 pm, with DJ Young at the host. 5 of the Ousted Idols came out one by one, and this was what fans had to do in order to win tickets to the Finals...
- For Tabitha, a male fan had to 'propose' to her and describe her eyes, legs and voice.
- For Charles, a young guy went up to learn a bit of beatboxing from Stitch himself.
- For Faizal, a guy and a girl went on stage to see which one can scream the loudets.
- For Duane, a teenage girl got on stage to dance with him to Lady Gaga's "Just Dance".
- For Farhan (the birthday boy!!), 3 young fans (all with long firnges obviously) went up on stage to do a Hair Flip-off... the one with the most impressive Flip-off won the tickets of course.
After that, came Sylvia and Sezairi, the 2 Idols whom we will see take centerstage at the Indoor Stadium on December 27th, after 6 mths of competition. The 7 of them then got together for a group photo, before heading out of the mall to board the bus back to MediaCorp. Naomi and I went to MediaCorp via taxi, only to realize that they went for intensive chereography and won't be out till late at night. We did however chat with Pamela who happened to be there. We then left the place at 5 pm.
Part 2- Asiasoft Christmas Fair
I took train to Suntec, and there I met up with Terence, Shanwei, Ted, Hiong and Desmond. There we saw familiar faces like Mable (tall and slender) and Kanny (cute and petite), as well as other babes like Amanda, Sherry and Huirong. There was an awesome magic performance by some magician named Danny Koh, dealing with doves, fire-sticks and luminous sticks, to name a few. The freebie throwing sessions (posters, paper bags, laptop covers, free games, etc) that came after 8.30 pm were insane... although the entire event was scheduled to end at 9 pm, apparently it ran past that time, so much that we decided to get out of the place by 9.30 pm.
Links to photo albums:
- Elvin fanclub bday-cum-Xmas gathering
- You've Got Mail Singles Party
- Singapore Idol 3 Top 2 roadshow at West Mall
- AsiaSoft Christmas Fair at Suntec Part 1
- AsiaSoft Christmas Fair at Suntec Part 2
Oh dear, yet another celeb had died at a very young age... Britany Murphy :-(((
This was how I spent the weekend for the 3rd week of December...
19th December
Part 1- Elvin Ng birthday-cum-Christmas gathering
I left the house rather early... played with the kitten near my place, then took train to Chinese Garden MRT station, and played with another cat loitering near the main entrance. Abt 30 fans went altogether, some whom I had not seen before. Very strange choice of venue to hold a gathering (La Vella restaurant located in the middle of Jurong Island??)... we almost got our cameras confiscated, but after further negotiations with the security by the committee and Elvin's manager, we managed to get our cameras back. Not to forget that 3 fans nearly couldn't join us cos they only had student passes. Due to the minor fiasco that took place between 12 to 1 pm at the entry point, the end time for the gathering was pushed to 5 plus rather than 4 pm. All of us were famished obviously, so when we reached the restaurant. we immediately started filling our plates and ate to our hearts' delight! The games segment (charades) was hilarious to the max. Followed by birthday celebration (Elvin's birthday is actually on Dec 23rd). Then came individual pic, group pic, autograph session and Q n A segment. Party endd at 5.30 pm, we drove back to Departure Halls to get our ICs back, and we returned to checkpoint at Chinese Garden MRT station.
Part 2- You've Got Mail Singles Party at Dragonfly
In the train, Naomi and myself had a brief chat with sweet and pretty Lisa, before we dropped off at Outram Park station and changed to Harborfront. We had quick dinner at KFC, walked to St James Power Station and registered ourselves into Dragonfly. Got lots of singletons aged between 20 (the minimum age) to maybe 50s... obviously we didn't want to mix with any of them; our main purpose was to see Tracy. Some 6-man local band perform about 6 songs to get the crowd warmed up... Tracy came at 8.40 pm and immediately spotted us standing at the front of the stage. She was one of the gamemasters for some onstage activities (the male host I had seen before at Clarke Quay): Las Ketchup dance and Don't Forget The Lyrics. Quite funny time from the contestants xiah. Tracy left the stage at abt 9.35 pm... Naomi and myself went out of DF to look for her... we eventually found her in front of Bellini signboard chatting with har manager. We gave her gifts and chatted with her for a while. She thanked us, gave us very sweet hugs and got in friend's car out of St James at around 10.15 pm. We also left the place at that time.
20th December
Part 1- Singapore Idol Top 2 at West Mall
Brother and I went for morning service... immediately after that, we left the church and went separate ways; Bro off to work, and myself off to West Mall via train. Met up with Naomi at the control station and we had early lunch at food junction. We then played some games at Timezone arcade, and saw some Tom and Jerry performance at the stage region. Lo and behold, the moment we got down to 1st level, we were spotted by those weirdos Mr NR and Mr EZ... man were they annoying!! We waited for slightly more than an hour... then the Idols (7 of them) arrived at 2.45 pm, with loud screams everywhere. The event started proper at exactly 3 pm, with DJ Young at the host. 5 of the Ousted Idols came out one by one, and this was what fans had to do in order to win tickets to the Finals...
- For Tabitha, a male fan had to 'propose' to her and describe her eyes, legs and voice.
- For Charles, a young guy went up to learn a bit of beatboxing from Stitch himself.
- For Faizal, a guy and a girl went on stage to see which one can scream the loudets.
- For Duane, a teenage girl got on stage to dance with him to Lady Gaga's "Just Dance".
- For Farhan (the birthday boy!!), 3 young fans (all with long firnges obviously) went up on stage to do a Hair Flip-off... the one with the most impressive Flip-off won the tickets of course.
After that, came Sylvia and Sezairi, the 2 Idols whom we will see take centerstage at the Indoor Stadium on December 27th, after 6 mths of competition. The 7 of them then got together for a group photo, before heading out of the mall to board the bus back to MediaCorp. Naomi and I went to MediaCorp via taxi, only to realize that they went for intensive chereography and won't be out till late at night. We did however chat with Pamela who happened to be there. We then left the place at 5 pm.
Part 2- Asiasoft Christmas Fair
I took train to Suntec, and there I met up with Terence, Shanwei, Ted, Hiong and Desmond. There we saw familiar faces like Mable (tall and slender) and Kanny (cute and petite), as well as other babes like Amanda, Sherry and Huirong. There was an awesome magic performance by some magician named Danny Koh, dealing with doves, fire-sticks and luminous sticks, to name a few. The freebie throwing sessions (posters, paper bags, laptop covers, free games, etc) that came after 8.30 pm were insane... although the entire event was scheduled to end at 9 pm, apparently it ran past that time, so much that we decided to get out of the place by 9.30 pm.
Links to photo albums:
- Elvin fanclub bday-cum-Xmas gathering
- You've Got Mail Singles Party
- Singapore Idol 3 Top 2 roadshow at West Mall
- AsiaSoft Christmas Fair at Suntec Part 1
- AsiaSoft Christmas Fair at Suntec Part 2
Thursday, December 17, 2009
My thoughts on "The Storm Warriors"
Im frankly quite disappointed with the film... I mean I dont regret watching it, but i wished the Pang Brothers did better. 10 years of wait and we get this sub-standard film containing all action but no real plot? The storyline is so underrated and lousy, there is ZILCH character development for the supporting cast, and the 2nd half of the film focused too much on Bu Jing Yun (Cloud) versus the demon-possessed Nie Feng (Wind). Second Dream and Chu Chu do nothing more than try to persuade the 2 guys to stop fighting (and one of them eventually got killed). And we dont even know what happened to Heart (a worthless role played by Nicholas Tse)!! The way that Earth and Sky got defeated by Cloud in a squash match was plain corny, leaving many viewers going "huh?" (it's like Kane defeating Chavo Guerrero at WrestleMania 24 to win the ECW title... within only 9 seconds). Simon Yam's role as the primary antagonist Lord Godless seemed like a big waste. Right after he got destroyed, the focus seemed to be shifted completely onto the 2, and not even on the remnants of Godless' army!!
I rate this film 3 out of 5 stars... hopefully the Pang Brothers produce another sequel in a few yrs time (make that 3 yrs pls, not 10 yrs!!), and with a proper storyline, as well as better fleshed-out characters. We know for sure that Cloud survived the fall... just that we don't know how.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Shocking report of a senior adult murder, and discontinuation of TV Mobile
This is most surprising... equally as shocking as the sudden deaths of well known people like Michael Jackson, Stephen Gately and Umaga. An old woman charged with murder of her own friend...
A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted a 98-year-old woman, accused of strangling her 100-year-old nursing-home roommate, on a second-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors say Laura Lundquist killed centenarian Elizabeth Barrow, a resident of Brandon Woods Nursing Home in Dartmouth, after the two women had an argument over a table Lundquist had placed at the foot of Barrow's bed.
Barrow was found dead September 24 with a plastic shopping bag tied loosely around her head, according the Bristol County district attorney's office. An autopsy indicated Barrow had been strangled.
Barrow complained that the table obstructed her path to the bathroom, authorities said. When a nurse's aide moved it, Lundquist punched the aide and grumbled that her roommate "might as well have the whole room," prosecutors said.
District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said Barrow repeatedly complained that Lundquist was making her life "a living hell" in the weeks leading up to the woman's death, and that Lundquist remarked that she would outlive her roommate.
A nursing home spokesman said the facility twice presented Barrow with the chance to change either rooms or roommates, but she declined each time. He compared the pair to "sisters," saying they took "daily walks together ... ate lunch together every day, and were heard at night saying, 'Good night, I love you,' to each other."
Lundquist's attorney, Carl Levin, contends his client was not involved in Barrow's death, saying, "We maintain her innocence."
A superior court judge granted a motion to send Lundquist to a state hospital for a competency evaluation. An arraignment will be held only if Lundquist is found competent to stand trial.
CNN News excerpt
Local news: here's another piece of news which may disappoint many people who take the bus to work or back home everyday...
MediaCorp will discontinue TV Mobile, the free-to-air mobile digital television broadcast service, next year.
A statement released Tuesday said MediaCorp has decided to terminate the service upon expiry of its current agreement with SBS Transit on January 1.
The company said the discontinuation comes from a careful evaluation of the viability of the service, as resources required to operate and maintain TV Mobile are substantial.
When the service was launched in 2001, it was the only platform in Singapore that offered digital content to public commuters.
MediaCorp said it will re-deploy all TV Mobile staff to other operations within the company.
A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted a 98-year-old woman, accused of strangling her 100-year-old nursing-home roommate, on a second-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors say Laura Lundquist killed centenarian Elizabeth Barrow, a resident of Brandon Woods Nursing Home in Dartmouth, after the two women had an argument over a table Lundquist had placed at the foot of Barrow's bed.
Barrow was found dead September 24 with a plastic shopping bag tied loosely around her head, according the Bristol County district attorney's office. An autopsy indicated Barrow had been strangled.
Barrow complained that the table obstructed her path to the bathroom, authorities said. When a nurse's aide moved it, Lundquist punched the aide and grumbled that her roommate "might as well have the whole room," prosecutors said.
District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said Barrow repeatedly complained that Lundquist was making her life "a living hell" in the weeks leading up to the woman's death, and that Lundquist remarked that she would outlive her roommate.
A nursing home spokesman said the facility twice presented Barrow with the chance to change either rooms or roommates, but she declined each time. He compared the pair to "sisters," saying they took "daily walks together ... ate lunch together every day, and were heard at night saying, 'Good night, I love you,' to each other."
Lundquist's attorney, Carl Levin, contends his client was not involved in Barrow's death, saying, "We maintain her innocence."
A superior court judge granted a motion to send Lundquist to a state hospital for a competency evaluation. An arraignment will be held only if Lundquist is found competent to stand trial.
CNN News excerpt
Local news: here's another piece of news which may disappoint many people who take the bus to work or back home everyday...
MediaCorp will discontinue TV Mobile, the free-to-air mobile digital television broadcast service, next year.
A statement released Tuesday said MediaCorp has decided to terminate the service upon expiry of its current agreement with SBS Transit on January 1.
The company said the discontinuation comes from a careful evaluation of the viability of the service, as resources required to operate and maintain TV Mobile are substantial.
When the service was launched in 2001, it was the only platform in Singapore that offered digital content to public commuters.
MediaCorp said it will re-deploy all TV Mobile staff to other operations within the company.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A few photos taken during 8 days roadshow
Day 1 of the event
The 8 days covers mini-museum, styled in the form of a living room (TV, windows, walls, table, pillows, curtains, beanbag, even lampshade). The covers disaplyed in the TV set don't seem very well organized.
Christy Yow on stage
My photo with Christy
Andie Chen on stage
Andie posing for shutterbugs at the covers gallery
Took pic with Jean Danker
Day 2 of the event
The official unveiling of the 1000th issue of 8 days, along with the mannequin sporting the dresses worn by Zoe, Cherie, Joanne and "Angelina Jolie" on the cover shoot.
The Polo Boys on stage, playing some onstage games with 6 NATurals.
The female cast of "The Pupil" on stage.
Sylvia and Sezairi on stage. They will grace the cover of 8 days issue No 1001.
The Polo Boys, lawyers and Singapore Idols gather at the backstage region behind the stage for TV ads.
Picture with the male host Tim Oh.
Upon seeing that super-weird Mr Hao Lian try to start a conversation with one of the Felicians, I quickly told him to "talk to the hand". And yes, thats his brother next to him, aka Mr Gwai Lan.
Suhaimi with Sezairi's family and friends.
Suhaimi Yusof conducting a few kampuing-themed games like "Chatek", "Five Stones" and "Zero-Point". Yes, Mr Hao Lian is indeed one of the fans who went on stage for the last game.
Felicia makes her grand comeback!!
Sweet Felicia at Radiogate
Mission accomplished... I took pic with Felicia once more :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)