word shutter

TEDDY / Chasing a Mirror

2012-03-10T23:51:00.001+08:00

TEDDY

If I were to tell you a secret
That no one in the world knows
Will you start questioning?
Will you start running away?

If I were to tell you a secret
That seems as unnatural as it may be
Will you start laughing with me?
Will you start escaping away?

Surely you know why
Of all those people out there I chose you

Are you going to keep my secret?
Away from the watchful eyes of the world
Prying and tearing to see my real identity
I know I can run to your side
And dive into your embrace
To hide from the rest of the universe

I know exactly that you will keep this promise
But how long is this going to last…

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Chasing a Mirror

Beyond the fog
I see a familiar figure
Running away
With tears dripping onto the ground

Into the fog
I ran after the figure
Approaching closer
I could hear the painful cries

That was when you turned around
And I saw my face in yours

We are still childish
We yearned to be loved
We are still learning to love
We are still hurt
We hold the memories of yesterday
We still bleed within

I reached out
And touched my own face
Wiping the tears away
Comforting myself from crying

That was when you turned around
And started to run away again

We are still childish
We don’t want to be neglected
We don’t want to cry
We have to cry out loud
We are imperfect
We yearn to be perfect

Letting go is painful
But not letting go is too
Confused and lost at what to do
The kite in my hand flew away
Forgiving over and over again
But not seeing any changes
Tears the rainbow into different colors

We are still childish
We are still chasing
We are still searching
We are still looking for the rainbow
We are still crying
We are still laughing

When are you going to disappear, my other self
So that I do not have to see myself miserable again

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Even though these were written some time back,

they still hold a lot of meanings to me.

Dedicated to those with secrets and the ones who share these treasures...

Koda Kumi - JAPONESQUE (CD+2DVD)

2012-03-04T14:17:00.000+08:00

Last week was a week of mails. When I came back home on Friday, I have stacks of parcels and a couple of letters on my table. Amongst the pile is this A4 box which surprised me. I know that I ordered a Koda Kumi 10th Anniversary FANTASIA in TOYKO DOME and her latest album but I have no clue why the box was so big because it was only 2 small items.

Sure enough. When I opened the box, I was greeted with the FANTASIA DVD but there was something else inside and it wasn't scary - thank goodness. Here's what I saw...

TA DA! I know that I've ordered Koda Kumi's latest studio album - JAPONESQUE but I did not know that it was to be packaged like this. The first press of the Hong Kong version which I got came with an A4 plastic file! Weeee~~ Surprise surprise! Other than the A4 file, the album is packaged in a really cool digipak. This has to be one of the best packagings in my collection so far.

My second avex file after ayumi hamasaki's FIVE, also the Hong Kong press bought from YesAsia! Just have to show it off~ In case y'all didn't know, Koda Kumi is pregnant and I think she did this creative for her album to show of her slim body before she gets out of shape with a baby in her tummy. Hopefully she doesn't stay out of shape for too long because that would ruin her signature, no?

The back of the plastic file with the title of the album. I think JAPONESQUE is pronounced like "Japanese", yes? The logo representing the album is also interesting - looks like some emblem that came out from Power Rangers or something. But again, Power Rangers originated from Japan so I guess that's fair...

To save my wallet, I got the Hong Kong version of the album from YesAsia. JAPONESQUE is Koda Kumi's 10th studio album and was released in January 25, 2012 in Japan. The version you see here is the CD+2DVD but there are also other versions like the limited edition one (which you can click here to see - presented to you by Meatpao, one of the bloggers I read) and the CD-only version as well as the CD+DVD version.

Here's a close up of ~~Koda Kumi's thigh~~ the sticker on the album. Basically, it introduces the album and describes the content roughly. The CD+2DVD version contains the album's CD as well as 2 DVDs - one containing 17 music videos of the tracks in this album (just like what they did for KINGDOM) and the other DVD featuring some of her live performances as well as the CMs of her previous studio albums. Interesting stuff.

The back of the digipak with the obi on. The Hong Kong press' obi isn't that visually appealing with all the Chinese words on it but it does a pretty good job in terms of informing the buyer of what's inside the box. Here, you get to see the screen grabs of the music videos as well as more information that's left out from the tiny sticker you see at the front.

I love the creative of this album - the use of really "Japanese" props and costume with a modern Koda Kumi interpretation. It's like high fashion meets music! Had to take a photo of the album without the obi and the sticker because it looks so much better.

Here's the back of the digipak with her in another pose. This album is filled with tonnes of really good photos - thanks to the wonderful creative and photographer, and I think it's really a masterpiece. With the obi removed, the back reveals the track list neatly printed on the side. Clean and clear.

Just to give you an idea of how thick the digipak is - it's slightly thinner than a VCR tape. The quality of the digipak is good - made of hard cardboard, it's pretty sturdy and good to hold.

The first thing you see when you open the lid is a close up of Kumi in a beauty shot on the right and the lyric booket on the left, slotted away at the back of the cover.

Behind the beauty shot is where the discs are stored. Unlike the recent digipaks which can't be bothered whether the discs are kept properly or not, this packaging makes sure that your discs are kept properly and scratch free in these jewel casings inside the digipak. This is how digipaks should be like! Not those slot-your-disc-into-a-pocket thing~

The design on the disc is pretty elaborate as they made use of motifs ranging from Japanese styled objects and patterns to a poker card Queen? Look closely in the photo - above Koda Kumi's name. I swear that's the Queen from the poker cards, no? A little out of place if you look closely but other than that, the CD looks good.

Now, let's turn our attention to the lyric booklet that looks equally amazing even though Kumi is not on it.

As you might have guessed, the lyric booklet is packed with lots of stunning pictures as well. The first one that you see here is also cover-quality. In fact, all the photos are cover-quality throughout the entire production. I hope ayumi releases something like this soon though - her latest album's cover "Party queen" doesn't look promising to me.

Another gorgeous photo! I'm not even going to go into how the lyrics are well laid out because the photos just snatch all your attention away.

I WANT THOSE PANTS! But I think I'm too short to wear those. But again, I don't think she's very tall either considering that she's Asian like me. :P Kumi is so versatile, no? She can do sexy and masculine and fierce and everything~

This shall be the last photo of this entry even though there are so many more photos that I would love to share with y'all but I would rather you go buy the album to experience the beautiful packaging for yourself. This album is definitely one of the best packaged one so far because it ticks everything that I'm looking for - creative and unique packaging, stunning photos, a place to store your CDs without scratching them and of course, free gifts!

Okay. That's all I have for you after typing on this entry and doing all sorts of random stuff for over 2 hours. The next few weeks will be busy for me (in fact, it's been pretty packed these weeks) so I guess I will have to go on hiatus again from blogging but rest assured I will continue come April because at that point, I will be pretty free~

Can't wait for June 6~ Freedom is awaiting...

Koda Kumi 10th Anniversary FANTASIA in TOKYO DOME

2012-03-03T16:13:00.001+08:00

Well I know this is definitely a late purchase because I can't find this DVD anywhere on the shelves of any Singapore CD stores! And I didn't want to just get this one alone from YesAsia because the shipping fees cost an arm and a leg. But anyway, I've finally gotten my hands on Koda Kumi 10th Anniversary FANTASIA in TOKYO DOME!

This concert is to commemorate Kumi's 10th anniversary and was performed at Tokyo Dome. Well according to the sources (considering that I've only watched like a couple of Koda Kumi concerts on DVD), the stage in FANTASIA is bigger and better than her previous concerts. Talk about celebrating with a bang, yes? In addition, this concert was not a tour so she only did it once. So exclusive, no?

As usual, even before I actually watched my DVDs, I take pictures of them and rant about their packagings and anything else I deem worthy/unworthy. Well, let's get the ball rollin' for this one!!

This spread caused me tons of wasted time, no thanks to Photoshop for being so anal about colors. Some settings messed up the colors during saving and I spent hours trying to remedy it just so that y'all get nice looking things to look at. So dedicated and shameless of me, no?

Back to Koda Kumi's 10th anniversary concert DVD. Here's the cover and you'll have to agree that this is probably SIMPLEST and sleek looking cover ever! I love how she photographs here because she is so relaxed even with mind in her face. The fonts on the cover are embedded gold and it keeps the whole look really simple but royal.

I wonder when will they realize that DVD region code is nothing but a huge pain in the puwet. As usual, in order for me to enjoy my DVDs without having to fumble with region locked devices, for instance my laptop and PS3, I have to get the Hong Kong press. But even if I have region free devices, the Hong Kong press is the way to go considering that it's so much cheaper than the Japanese counterparts. Here's the sticker on the Hong Kong press DVD and it roughly translates to... something to do with 46 songs of Kumi and it also includes the making of the concert.

The back of the casing is not that attractive though. Here we have the track list of the concert - and it doesn't suggest anything about 46 songs though. Maybe I read the Chinese character wrongly but anyway... I like how the fonts are clear and easy to read but her face is... I don't really understand her face. It looks gentle but you can tell that she seem to be struggling to keep her eyes open. Probably from all the wind. Not liking the photo.

In case y'all want a clearer view of the track list. Weeee~~ She started the concert with the very first song that got me listening to her songs - Butterfly! Before I listened to Koda Kumi, I used to think that she's slutty because of the image she portrays but after listening to Butterfly, I kinda fell in love with her raw voice. Then, I went on to get her KINGDOM album and fell in love with the way she does ballads! Really amazing singer she is!

Let's look at the insides now. This concert comes in 2 DVDs with the first disc being the main concert while the second being the encore plus the extra bonus stuff. It also comes with a booklet of photos. Yes - there are no lyrics this time round. Saving on paper perhaps?

A close up of the simplistic design of the disc.

Here's the booklet included inside this set. Reminds me of KINGDOM somehow - the brown tone and the very royal feel.

Well personally, I think there's nothing much to be fascinated about with this booklet because it basically just contain screen grabs of the concert to show off the really gorgeous looks of Kumi and her wardrobe but other than that, there's nothing more to it. It's not like there are that many photos inside as well - only a couple of pages.

Another one of the many looks in this 10th anniversary concert. Looking through the booklet, I realized that her hair changed again and again. I wonder how many wigs she has and which look is actually her real hair. Nowadays, fake hair look so real it's so hard to tell apart and it's really confusing to me. But so long as the artistes sing wonderfully, I don't really care if they have hair or not. :)

Well, that's all I have for FANTASIA. Can't wait to actually have time to watch it because judging from the photos and track list, the concert sure looks promising. Anyway, stay tuned tomorrow for yet another Koda Kumi release - her latest album "JAPONESQUE" gets reviewed right here on wordshutter!! :)

Toy Story Green Alien Speaker

2012-02-13T15:00:00.000+08:00

Saw this at hmv when I bought the One Direction - Up All Night album on Saturday and I went crazy - almost like a little kid in the toy store and without even thinking, I picked the nicest looking one and went to the counter to make my payment (before I change my fickle mind)...

It's a Toy Story Green Alien Mini Speaker!! One of those that you can bring around in your bag because it's so small but still packed with loud sound. It also comes with a Stitch version for all the Lilo and Stitch lovers out there. And like I've said previously, I got it from the hmv at Somerset@313.

This mini speaker comes with a USB 2.0 cable for you to charge it, a 3.5mm plug which fits into most portable music players like your iPod or the likes as well as your iPhone and other phones which supports that jack. It runs on a rechargeable lithium battery so you only have to worry about it running out of battery as opposed to carrying a few extras around. And of course, it comes with the cute little green thing that you wish you were small enough so you can give it a hug.

Freed the green alien from it's cardboard prison! Even though this speaker is Made in China (Come on now~ What isn't Made in China these days?), the speaker looks adorable and not like those pirated and deformed ones that you might get a cheap places - like the pasar malam. I've seen some green alien products that look totally hideous but this is not one of them. In fact, the anatomy is pretty accurate in my opinion.

The sound is emitted from the top of the alien's head through these vents around the antenna. The antenna feels hard and sturdy but it gives me that fear of putting it inside my bag for fear that even though it feels strong, it might still break from all the action inside my bag. Therefore, I think I would put the speaker either in some sort of a case or at least on the top of everything else if I pack it into my bag.

I think the designer loves the "Pin the tail on the dockey" game too much and did it for the poor green alien by putting the 3.5mm input at somewhere near the butt. Tried it just now with my iPod Touch and the sound was pretty loud but that's because my room wasn't very noisy. Compared it to a X-Mini speaker and the loudness is pretty close. Bass is not as strong though but for a $29.90 speaker, you can't expect a Dolby sound system, yes? That USB port is where you plug in to charge your speaker using any Mini-USB to USB 2.0 cable.

The On/Off switch is located on the other side of the alien as seen above. Notice that little hole? That hole will indicate whether your alien is still charging or is already fully charged via color indication. Green being full charged and red meaning otherwise. The base of the alien is layered with a non-slip material so that your alien does not go running from you on slippery surfaces.

And that brings us to the end of this pretty useless review of this cute little thing~ Just had to take this photo of the original green alien figurines with the speaker because the quality is so good it's almost like the real deal! Gosh I love the green aliens so much!!

One Direction - Up All Night (Limited Yearbook Edition)

2012-02-12T01:08:00.000+08:00

I normally do not buy male albums or singles because I don't know... Female singers are more appealing to me? But this time round, while walking around hmv with my 20 dollar rewards card, I was searching high and low for something to buy and it didn't take me long to stop at the shelf with this...

One Direction's debut album released last year - Up All Night. Well, I honestly have no idea whether this new boy band is good or not but I kinda like their song "What Makes You Beautiful". That energy reminds me of the reason why I bought my first AAA album and this is one of those albums that made me go "I want to get that song!" Well, I saw the single on sale for $7.90 but the packaging wasn't as interesting as this one.

The album is packaged in this hard cover book - almost like how P!NK did her latest compilation but this one is the size of one of those poetry books my literature teacher gave me when I was in secondary school for scoring an A. The unique packaging is also another drawing factor for me to get this album - just to try their music out.

The reason why I went for the Yearbook edition is also because, like the sucker for freebies and bonuses that I am, this version their album comes with 2 bonus tracks and one of it is "Moments", one of my favorite ayu songs. Wonder how a same titled track would fare in a different language. Call me crazy (everybody does~) for spending that little bit more on cheap (or rather pricey) thrills like that.

The CD is stored in the first page inside a sleeve. On the opposite, you're greeted with a pretty cool handwritten message from the boys themselves. You don't see boys with this good handwriting nowadays, do you? I have not heard the album yet other than the first track so I can't really judge whether this album is good in terms of its music but the packaging is pretty attractive.

Look~ They even have a content page for their yearbook!! Coolness~ I hope the Japanese artistes would one day adopt this style of presenting their album because their packaging is getting a bit predictable these days.

For people like myself who have no idea who the heck One Direction is, this yearbook is pretty useful in introducing the band members to you. I think it's more useful for those fan girls because I'm honestly not very interested in what the guys like or anything. But~ That aside, the book is well laid out and is inspiring to look at visually with the tonnes of images inside.

Or, if you're lazy to read like myself, you could do the Wiki search. According to the search, these boys were the second runner up to the show "The X-Factor" and even though they lost, they managed to sign to a music label in which they released their debut album which did so well on the charts it became the 16th biggest album in the UK in year 2011. Amazing for starters no? But would they be just a band of Biebers like what my brother said? Only time can tell... The book also include trivia and backstage photos like what you see here.

What's good if you have a beautiful book without lyrics inside? The band featured lyrics in the book like what you see above and to make the lyrics even more special, they did it handwritten. Well, at least some of them are... The little drawings on the side may seem a bit cheesy but hey~ They are barely legal yet so I guess that's excusable. Besides, you doodle on your textbooks too, no? Don't be lyin'~

And if the whole book isn't "school" enough for you, they included 6 stickers for you to stick all over the place with. More freebies!! Who would complain?

Overall, I say this album (at least this Yearbook Edition) is packed with more than just music (which until now, I have no clue whether it's good or bad but it should be reasonable considering that they did do well on the charts). It's packed with a lot of fun in terms of the content as well as interesting and fun photos to look at. The packaging is definitely inspiring and not something you get every other day and is worthy of collecting.

A CLIP BOX 1998 - 2011 ayumi hamasaki (Regular edition)

2012-02-04T15:52:00.000+08:00

After over a month of hiatus from blogging about CDs / DVDs, I'm finally back with my new arrival which arrived last week (not that new anymore, is it?) - A CLIP BOX 1998 - 2011 ayumi hamasaki, which was originally released in Japan on January 1, 2012. What a way to start a new year in Japan, no?

Unfortunately though, due to my shallow pocket and constantly depleting fund, I could only afford the Hong Kong press of this DVD box set containing EVERY SINGLE PV that ayumi hamasaki had ever shot since her debut from 1998. That's means this box set contains 12 years worth of her work! And on top of that, it also includes her commercials for her albums, singles as well as other random items.

Sigh~ The deluxe version is so much better, you know? Here's how the deluxe version looks like...

Source: ayumi hamasaki Official Japanese Website

First of all, it comes with this black furry bag with this really adorable pom-pom key chain which, as a guy, I would obviously not use. The consoling thing for not ordering the deluxe version is probably so that I can save my money away. I mean, why would I need a furry bag as a guy?

Other than that, instead of 3 DVD cases that the Hong Kong press came with, it comes with 6 DVD boxes that when you piece them together, you get ayu's "A". Cool, no?

Sigh~ Maybe I should start begging for sponsorship to run this blog. :P Idea!!

Anyway, back to the regular edition one... SIGH!!

At least I took all the pictures on this blog myself as far as possible, yes? Like I've previously mentioned, this box basically contains everything that ayu had every released before in her albums. So if you had been purchasing her CD-only albums, this box set is a must have to have a complete collection of all her promotional videos since "poker face" all to way to her latest mini-album "FIVE". Love the hot pink curtain but I don't really love the font. The "P" in "Clip" is a little hard to read.

The Chinese promotional sticker on the plastic cover of the box set. It basically translate to whatever I've said earlier.

The Hong Kong press normally comes with an obi over the actual boxes of albums that I've bought. But that obi is written in Chinese so that people in Hong Kong (or where ever else) who can't read English or Japanese can understand what the heck the box is trying to tell them. Here, I've removed the obi and threw it away because it's pure ugly anyway to reveal the English text behind - which is basically the LOOOOONNNNGGG track list of this box set.

The spine of the box set and a clearly "P" in "Clip". I believe the Japanese limited edition version is slightly thicker as it houses each individual DVD in their own casings as opposed to how the Hong Kong press is all compacted into 3 casings. Oh well~ That's for not being them rich people...

The DVDs housed instead the rather sturdy cardboard box. Did I mention that along with the DVDs, a pretty thick lyric booklet is included inside as well? The lyric booklet features the lyrics of all the songs that are presented in this gorgeously pink box set as well as 3 spreads of the screen grabs of all her promotional videos which I will show off later on.

The DVDs placed side by side. I don't understand why the Hong Kong version doesn't want to adopt the 6 DVD casing like what the Japanese press did because honestly, I don't think it's that expensive to include a few more plastic boxes right? Having just these three rather warm colors make the whole palette of the box set slightly unbalanced, in my opinion, and therefore, I'm honestly not really loving the design of what's inside the gorgeous cardboard sleeve.

On top of that, that font is really hurting my eye, especially the P!! It's so difficult to read~! Other than that, I think they could have did a better job with the design as opposed to just printing the names after names of the videos featured in this box set all over the box and just conveniently making different colors for different casings. Sorry, I'm just being damn critical here. :S How about using the screen grabs instead? Good idea right? At least there's more to feast your eyes on.

Nothing really special about the DVD. 2 DVDs in a single casing with a pretty basic design. Considering that there are 6 DVDs in total, I don't think it would be fair to fault them for making the design so simple so I'll pass.

And here's the lyric booklet - probably the thickest one I've ever seen in my life. It contains over 100 lyrics of each of the songs featured in this box set. The cover is the same as what you see on the cardboard sleeve. Nothing much to complain about. Must add that the print quality of the booklet is top notch though~ Good job!!

First page of the booklet displays the long track list of the entire box set as well as the commercials. They did not name each and every commercial out for the simple reason that it would spill over to the next page if they did as you know, ayu probably did as many commercials as she did music videos. But having the commercials also featured in this box set is a fantastic selling point of this album as the only other place you can probably catch the commercials is on Youtube.

The lyrics in the booklet are laid out cleanly and differentiate via color codes to tell the reader which song belongs to which DVD. Nothing really special. Love that blue though~ Would really love to have one of the DVD casings in this blue as opposed to just pink, yellow and orange.

The only pictures that you can find in the extremely "Wall-Of-Text" lyric booklet are these screen grabs of ayumi in her music videos. Honestly, if it wasn't for these spreads, I would have forgotten how some of the music videos looked like because I've probably only watched some of them once or twice only. One thing to note though - the DVD is not listed in chronologically order for some weird reason but I think we can all live with that, no?

Another spread - this time with yellow lines. Pardon my hands in these photos because it's really hard to get the booklet spread out without causing too much damage to the spine. It's also a challenge to put it flat on the surface for me to photograph.

Blue lines - very Tron, no?

And finally on the last page, ayu thanks her staff and fans in English for supporting her. I wonder if she did this in the Japanese version or not but who cares~ At least she's thankful for the support that everyone had given her.

I think overall, the box set is definitely worth the money because it collects every single videos ever made by ayumi into a single product that everyone can enjoy and on top of that, what really attracted me to get this set are all the commercials that she did. We all know that ayu had did many witty and funny ones and I can't wait to have the time to watch them all. Design wise though, I think the box set could have done more to make itself look so much better but oh well~ Maybe it's just the Hong Kong press one...

And to close this entry, I would like to thank y'all readers who managed to stumble onto this blog to read and share the unboxing of the many albums together and for reading my rants on what I dislike and for agreeing with what I like in terms of the packaging of these albums. I hope you enjoy the photos as well as the words and as much as possible, I will bring you more of such reviews to keep this blog alive!!

Thanks y'all!! :D

Happy 75th Birthday, Ah Gong!!

2012-01-30T01:12:00.002+08:00

Well before all y'all think that I disappeared from the faces of this planet, this post should reassure you that I still exist and am pretty much alive (thank you very much) but recently, I had films after films to edit because I am kinda in a debt. Took too many photos but didn't really have time to edit the film.

So this morning (1.09am), I decided to just post a simple photo of my lovely family celebrating my grandfather's 75th birthday at a Chinese restaurant somewhere near my aunt's workplace to assure all y'all readers that I'm not closing this blog down - I'm just too busy doing other things.

In case y'all miss me too much, y'all can always visit my photo blog at nega+ive because recently, I've been adding more pieces of art (or so I self-proclaim).

Once I get the time, I shall resume blogging, yes? :D

But always stay tuned for little surprises like these once in awhile... :D

And before I forget...

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE OUT THERE!!

and

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!

way overdue but y'all know I always do overdues... :D

Christmas Eve High Tea by Pastry & Baking class

2011-12-26T13:00:00.000+08:00

On Christmas Eve, for the first time in my life, I stepped into the ITE College West for a fabulous Christmas Eve High Tea event organized by my brother's, Leon's, Pastry & Baking class - PJ5114. His class hosted this event and spent like a week just to get the menu set, to get the pastries baked and finally, to present their masterpieces to us, family members - how sweet right~~

My father and I arrived at the campus in the afternoon and found ourselves up to Level 4 of one of the many sleek looking buildings of the school. I tell you~ I had never imagined an ITE college to look any better than any other universities or polytechnics! College West's architectural design blew my mind off because it was so gorgeous! If you have a chance, do visit it one day! I believe Ang Mo Kio is building a similarly inspiring college just opposite the old school too~

We were ushered by Leon and his friendly classmates - all excited and beaming at the arrival of us, VIPs. :D They brought us to their demonstration room which is like a classroom just that instead of the classic table and whiteboard in front of the class, they had an oven and a kitchen table! Really cool!

Along the way, we saw this really huge Western kitchen! It's as though you've just walked into a MasterChef kitchen because I had never seen anything like this before! The students really did a fabulous job keeping the area so literally sparkling clean! Doesn't this kitchen make you feel like you want to cook in there?

Another shot of the same kitchen. All the equipment look top notch, no? They have things like the pasta making machine too! I want one but I don't know where to get one!! But again, I don't think I can afford it because they look really expensive~

That was the Western kitchen which had nothing much to do with my brother's course because his is into pastries and baking as opposed to meats and other stuff. This is his heaven - a pastry kitchen equipped with professional mixers, fridges under their metal benches, ovens, commercial giant mixers, etc. Whatever you need to build a cake, they have it there! So extremely cool, no? :D Maybe one day, I shall go there to study... Hee hee~ But I think I'm overage...

Presenting to you my brother on the right of this shot with a spoon and fork in his hands. After walking around the campus on a "tour", we were brought into the metallic kitchen you see above and welcomed by the vibrant spread across a bench. What a contrast! All these colorful goodies are made in this kitchen which seems intimidating and unwelcoming but it's these little chefs that commands the kitchen to bring the human side out of it.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOD?! Well here they are~! The spread was awesome! Whatever kind of pastries you can think of, they did it and probably even better! These little finger thingies sprinkled with pistachios are obviously not banana cakes. I forgot what they are called but I know it starts with a "F". All these food are created FROM SCRATCH by the students. Aren't they amazing?!

This is probably the tastiest 5-star grade classic baked cheesecake I had ever ate in my entire life! Although the cheese is dense, the flavor is not overpowering like the ones you get outside. The flavors are well balanced so that you do not get sick and tired of eating the cake after your first few bites. It sure doesn't looked baked because the color is sickly beautiful but it is! And do you want to meet the chef who created this masterpiece?

TA DA! My brother may not be good at Math but he's damn good at making a perfectly calculated and balanced cheesecake that everyone had to go for seconds. In fact, at the end of the whole event where there were some left, his classmates were fighting for his cake. Well~ At least he managed to bring one home for me to enjoy. Are y'all jealous? :D

More delicious sweets - in pictures. This is their Christmas reinterpretation of the classic strawberry shortcake in the form of the Christmas log cake. Really creative no? The students and their head chef really went all out in terms of creativity, bringing old classics and giving them a Christmas twist to everything to make sure that we are feasting on top quality desserts.

Eclairs anyone? Instead of the typical chocolate ones, they made different flavors like vanilla and strawberry. The color, however, is not as flattering even though the eclairs taste fantastic. This eclair looks like it's stuffed with fish cake instead of vanilla cream though - you know the ones they have at yong tao fu stores? Well at least the other eclairs look nicer.

Bet this strawberry mousse cake makes those people who are allergic to strawberry hate their allergies even more because the smooth mousse is really amazing! These students may be pastry chefs but they are artists as well in terms of arrangement of their toppings and compositions. Nowadays, people eat with their eyes and if they do not possess the eye for aesthetics, no one will give two hoots to their creations, yes?

One of the "WOW" dishes for the day - a Black Forest reinterpretation! Leon told me that when they were going through their menu, they realized that there were way too make cakes so they decided to recreate some of the classics into little pieces of art like the one you see here. In a small saucer, you get really nice cream with a huge cherry topped with bits of cake, silky chocolate mousse and a blueberry. You can literally finish this thing in one mouth but you will definitely go for seconds because it's so good!

For the first time in my life, I finally had those highly acclaimed macaroons! They are really soft on the outside and creamy on the inside. I've heard that macaroons are one of the hardest things to make because they are so delicate. Picking them up with your fingers can create dents on the hamburger buns if you exert too much strength. The student who made these is really skillful in the sense that all the macaroons are replicas of each other and their buns look so smooth and flawless. Fantastic job~

At first, you might think this is another eclair but when you put it into your mouth, this innocent looking thing exclaims that it's a donut coated with chocolate and sprinkled with rainbow sparkles. Another reinterpretation of another classic which I thought was a genius idea because of the surprise element in taste. Looks are sooooo deceiving! Who said a donut has to have a hole in it?

This is definitely one of my favorites of the entire day - fruit tarts! Instead of putting these fresh fruits into the tart molds, they topped them onto these bite size biscuits. I'm truly amazed at their creativity because they really brought pastry art to a whole new level with their non-stop innovations and creative ideas. This tart has a story behind why it was made so though... My brother told me that they were out of tart molds so they created biscuit instead. But~ When you put the whole thing into your mouth, it tastes exactly like a fruit tart! That's the magic in these little monster~

Got to love these cupcakes because they have my favorite maraschino cherries on these freshly made cream! Of course they do not use these cream out of a can~ They made them all! These cakes are really yummy and at the base of each cake, you get a little surprise as well, depending on which flavor you are having. The chocolate version has a chunk of melted chocolate at the base and it was al-so-sinful!

Throughout the whole thing, the students had to make sure that all the guests have something to eat and they have to constantly top up the buffet table. Here's Leon and his chef discussing something. His chef, from what I heard, is actually a pastry master at Marina Bay Sands and is quite acclaimed. It's good to know that these chefs are taking their time to impart their skills to others who are as passionate as he is. See those chocolate tarts on the tray? They are the loves as well!!

Had to take this photo of Leon with his best friend in class - the mixer. Each student is equipped with their own bench and gosh it's not like the secondary school's pathetic home econs where you had to share an entire work space. Due to the nature of their assignments, pastry chefs need a huge surface area to work on - the dough needs space, the equipment needs space, they need space! I really want to see how the class works during a normal school day though~ They should totally invite us to witness one day~

Got to give these aspiring chefs a huge round of applause and a huge THANK YOU for their marvelous job creating my favorite part of an entire meal - the desserts! This is Leon's class and probably future working colleagues if they continue to pursue their passion in cooking. Now, are you amazed at what they teach at school nowadays? Not only do you gain knowledge, you get sweet treats every other day! Best course to be in ever!!

Hope y'all are feeling hungry and extremely jealous of what I got to eat that day. I had to say that the creations that they made were so inspiring, I couldn't stop taking photos of them. As a photographer, you need subjects that inspire and they really inspired me - the students and their creations. Maybe I shall study food photography even more because they are so fun to photograph~

Shall end here! Certainly hope that I will get another opportunity to witness more creations from these people because I have to say, I had a really sweet Christmas Eve this year thanks to them. :)

Lady Gaga - Born This Way The Collection

2011-12-19T01:36:00.001+08:00

Sometimes I wonder why the artistes like to release their studio albums again and again in different versions over a span of time - like what Lady Gaga is doing this time round with her multi-platinum album "Born This Way".

Because of this collection box, I have 2 copies of "Born This Way" on my shelf. Not to mention, I also have 2 copies of "The Fame" as well because it came with "The Fame Monster". Marketing strategy? I'm confused, honestly, because I don't need so many copies of the same thing, yes?

Anyway, back to the topic. "Born This Way - The Collection" was released last month on the 21st. Uh huh~ Another belated post but hey~ I don't have time to go shopping often you know. Furthermore, this collection box was delayed in Singapore due to some weird issues but at least we still managed to get it.

And... After a long time since I blogged about CDs, it's time for the photos... :)

Presenting to you Mother Monster's latest release - Born This Way The Collection!! Basically, this box set contains 2 CDs and 1 DVD and these are her studio album, the remix album of her studio album and her Monster Ball Tour performed at Madison Square Garden (where ever that place may be...) The reason why I bought this box set is simple - I LOVE THE COVER! I have no clue what Gaga is covered in but it's just aesthetically pleasing to my eyes~

However, if you feel like you do not want to spend S$49.90 (hmv) / S$45.90 (MJ Multimedia) on something which you already have - the studio album, you can buy the remix album and the DVD or Blu-ray versions of the Monster Ball Tour separately. The remix album costs around 14 bucks while the Blu-ray is at a surprisingly affordable price of S$29.90. DVD's going at S$27.90. Gosh!! I'm so proud of myself for being able to remember all the prices!! Anyway, here's the how the back of the gorgeous off-white cardboard box look like.

Here are the spines of the cardboard sleeves which are used to hold the discs - my most hated packaging ever because it's flimsy and provides minimal protection to the discs. Furthermore, when you shake the whole box, which I wouldn't recommend unless you want scratched discs, you can hear that annoying loose disc sound. Design wise, it works. Practicality, no way.

The other side of the box. Kinda reminds you of ayumi hamasaki's A BEST 2 -WHITE- yeah? Font choices, color choices and all...

As expected, when you pull out the cardboard sleeves from the outer case, you see each respective disc contained in the appropriate sleeves with the corresponding album art. If only they used jewel cases instead of cardboard sleeves like what they did to P!NK's "The Album Collection".

Instead of spelling it out in your face, you have to either explore the contents of these cardboard sleeves or be as knowledgeable as me to recognize each album art to know which sleeve contains what. From left to right, we have the Monster Ball Tour DVD, the remix album and lastly, the studio album in its same, scary cover. I think the covers actually look quite good without the titles on it - keeps the cover cleaner.

Let's start with the Born This Way - The Remix. I'm not a huge fan of remixes and I honestly have no idea how this album will sound like because I have yet to listen to it but at least the cover looks better than the motorcycle monster that we see on her regular versions of her album. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm actually buying her photos or buying her music because obviously, I'm more interested in the covers than the remixes of Born This Way.

At least the track list looks pretty good, with songs that I like for instance You and I, Judas, Scheiße, Marry the Night, etc. Well, that's basically the whole studio album that I like, no? :P I just hope that the remixes are not those trashy ones with more electro music than there is actually singing.

The CD peeping out from the cardboard case. Nothing really special about the disc.

Here we have the studio album, Born This Way - the reason why this entire box set could see the lights in the CD shop. Still features the scary Gaga with her bloody red lipstick and her eyes staring right down into your soul, as if seeking out your darkest secrets and your deepest fears...

At the back of this sleeve, you are also greeted with the album art of the regular version of Born This Way - the motorcycle-thing. Seriously, I still don't get this motorcycle madness because no matter how hard I try, it doesn't relate to the theme of the album. Well, unless Gaga is trying to say that she's born a motorcycle then I have nothing much to go against that creative.

Unlike the remix sleeve, this sleeve allows you to open it up like a book. The right side of the sleeve stores the lyric booklet and the left side holds the CD itself.

Here's how the studio album looks like with the CD and the lyric booklet. If you are keen on peeping into the lyric booklet, be sure to drop by my previous post on the deluxe version of the album by clicking HERE. Well, come to think of it, I did not exactly get the same thing. The deluxe version comes with a bonus disc but the collection one features only the album itself. Okay~ Enough of the reaffirmation talk...

OH YES!! In case you're wondering if The Collection copy of Born This Way is censored or not, it unfortunately is. What a letdown! I was hoping that it wasn't censored because I saw the Parental Advisory and M18 sticker but oh well... Don't think they will release the uncensored version any sooner with suckers like me buying copies after copies in hopes of getting the raw one.

Here's the part where I'm most interested in - the Monster Ball Tour sleeve! This is the first English artiste concert DVD to make it into my collection because it's conveniently sold in this box set. I'm more interested in Japanese concerts than English ones because they are more dramatic but since this is Gaga, dramatic is an understatement. The cover features Mother Monster's boobs on fire - who would have thought of that other than Katy Perry, no?

The back of the cover. Did you know that the Parental Advisory label, or in Singapore, the M18 sticker, is "awarded" to this box set due to the concert DVD? Wow... That means that this concert must pack helluva things to make it adult-rated. I have yet to watch it but I definitely will tomorrow when the sun is up, in case the concert gives me a nightmare.

By the way, lucky for me, the M18 sticker is stuck onto the plastic wrap of the album so if you buy this album locally (by locally, I mean Singapore), you can get rid of the M18 sticker by just removing the plastic wrap - easy peasy~~ No hairdryer and baby oil~

Similar to the studio album's sleeve, this sleeve allows you to open it up like a booklet and apologies for my stupidity because I just realized I missed out the shot of her climbing onto a car - the image that you see when you open the sleeve up. Anyway, the Monster Ball sleeve comes with the DVD as well as a booklet of pictures.

Out of all the three discs, this is the nicest looking one because it has fireworks on it.

A close up on the front page of the Monster Ball photo booklet.

The back of the photo booklet featuring a tamer version of Gaga.

Well, just to entice you to go to your nearest CD store to get your own copy of this collection box, I shall post some random shots from the photo booklet. From the booklet, you can tell that throughout the concert, she changed costumes again and again - just like the rest of the Japanese pop stars. Really excited to go watch it tomorrow~ And notice that finger? That small gesture might have been the reason why this collection box is M18.

I love the outfit on the left~

Gaga loves her spikes, no?

Well overall, I would say that this box set is worth your money because...

A) You love the cover like I do because finally, it's not just black and white - it has colors and goo and things that makes you go "What on earth is that~?!"

B) You're a collector like I am

C) You're a Baby Gaga like myself

D) You don't have the studio album (shame on you!!) and you want to redeem yourself from the embarrassment by getting yourself a copy then this collection box would definitely be fantastic for you

E) You like the packaging as much as I do despite the flimsy cardboard sleeves

F) Come on! It's only S$49.90 for 3 discs! That's extremely cheap as compared to the rest of my Japanese CDs!

GAGA) Because you love Monster Mother~ :)

Well, that's all I have to cover for Born This Way The Collection. Let's see if this post can bring up my viewership for this month higher because I'm pretty sure it will. I realized that any post with "Gaga" in it is a sure hit. Let's see then~!! :D

Sizzler - Suntec City, Singapore

2011-11-30T17:28:00.001+08:00

I'm finally back in Singapore after my FORTY DAYS WAR in Australia and yes, this blog had been doing nothing other than collecting dust for the past month. Well, it's really difficult to be blogging proper in Australia considering that the internet is pretty unstable and that I wasn't in the right frame of mind to write properly anyway.

Australia was dreadful. Didn't really like the second part of my exercise but I must say that the first part of it was pretty memorable with my IS platoon mates. Shows that working with people who you are familiar with and people who aren't always haunting you for things that are not even supposed to be under your charge really makes the working environment different.

Anyway, this post is not meant to be a rant of how much I enjoyed/dreaded Australia but for my first meal other than fast food in Singapore since I've returned and I had my lunch yesterday at Sizzler!

YES!! People had been telling me that the Sizzler in Australia is really awesome because the steak is obscenely large but unfortunately, due to time constraints as well as budget (P.S. I only brought like AU$230 there), I couldn't really enjoy their Sizzler. I saw their advertisement on TV though.

Well pardon the obvious distortions of this photo but yeap. A Sizzler actually exists in Singapore, well hidden behind an escalator the moment you walk into Tower B from the Wheel of Wealth (I was meant to say Fortune) in Suntec City. There's another one at Toa Payoh so maybe one day, I'll go there because Sizzler is really good! SALADS!!

Here I am in Singapore enjoying something that Australia has too but so what? I prefer to eat in the comfort of my own country and my own company. Firstly, it's so much cheaper because of the currency and secondly, the portions should be just fine for my tiny stomach. We had the lunch time deal which basically means you pick a lunch entree and you will be able to enjoy the salad bar, soups, desserts (fruits and sundaes) and a drink. How economical!

Since it was a weekday yesterday and that kids normally do not want to eat anything else other than free chicken McNuggets, the restaurant was relatively empty. There were a bunch of slightly older ladies sitting one of the tables in this photo, preaching at their daughters regarding their studies and causing lots of distractions to my dining experience but other than that, all was well.

I love Sizzler for the fact that they have a whole salad bar in the middle of the restaurant filled with an assortment of greens and other delicious but healthy goodies. Doesn't the bar look so inviting in the photo above?

A close up on the tropical fruits served on platters placed on a lots of ice. This is also officially the first time I see dragon fruits being served in a buffet other than the standard oranges, pineapples, apples, watermelons, etc. Bet you can't get such an array in Australia, yes? :)

The salad bar is filled with different things to decorate your greens with ranging from cherry tomatoes, crushed boiled eggs, cheese, ham, beans and others. Of course, if you are lazy like how I was feeling yesterday, you could always go for those that are well tossed for you. They had Caesar salad and some other seafood ones yesterday. I wonder if they change their menus now and then though...

I always start buffets with a serving of greens because the entrees are normally deprived of vegetables. People call me crazy but I love my veggies~~ Furthermore, with so much to choose from, how can you not be tempted? Unless you're a carnivore then you probably should go to Carnivore (check out my opinions of that meat buffet - click on the word!!) instead of coming to Sizzler to stretch your dollars.

My salad of the day - Caesar salad topped with broccoli, mushrooms and cheese. BROCCOLI!! :) Should have added some ham to it but I think I missed it because I didn't fully explore the whole salad bar because I was lazy. :(

I suppose the lunch deals come with these cheesy toast because we didn't ask for these but the gesture of surprising us with something that's seemingly free is a really kind gesture and what I would say good customer service. Well, that's assuming that these are indeed free and provided out of the goodwill of the restaurant. Anyway, these toasts are amazing because they are so thick and soft~ Sinful!!

I did mention soups previously, yes? They had tom yam soup, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken yesterday and I picked the mushroom one because... there are mushroom inside? I wonder if they vary the soups each day though... Would be good to see other things like vegetable soup. Gosh the meat lovers will hate me~ :P

You can tell that these soup aren't like the ones you get elsewhere because of the ingredients they use inside. Just look at how big that chicken chunk is! What we did was to use the ladle to go all the way down to the bottom of the cauldron to fish for these goodies. Even their mushrooms come in huge chunks! Really delightful~

A serving method of the cheesy toast - if you're interested in knowing what I want to know how I had it. TIP: Do not dip the whole toast like what I did in the photo above because you will taste more soup than bread. Exercise a bit of common sense because I really lacked those yesterday. :S

Now here comes the real deal of the day - the entree. I had steak served with a mushroom dipping sauce which actually has a mushroom inside and accompanied with the crispiest fries you will ever find! The fries are to die for - crispy on the outside and so so so soft on the inside! Furthermore, the skin of the potatoes are still on it and gosh I love those parts!

I always have my steaks done medium-well and at Sizzler, they have these little toothpick thingies pricked onto your meats to tell you how they are done. Honestly, I don't really know how to tell they are done because I trust the chefs to know what they are doing. The steak isn't as monstrous as what I thought it would be but it will suffice, considering that I stuffed my face with other goodies from the salad bar.

Honestly, the steak isn't a big WOW factor of the restaurant but it's still amazing anyway. It's soft and succulent. The sauce is a surprise though - creamy but light in flavor, not those oily ones that you find in hawker centers or other cheap places. Because it's so light, you can actually taste the goodness of the beef and enjoy the texture of the dead cow (oops - how unappetizing). Nevertheless, it's still really good if you don't like things to be too heavy.

To keep things slightly lower in calories and fat, I went for the iced lemon tea even though honestly, I doubt it makes much of a difference because these tea still has a high sugar content and is fattening anyway. At least as compared to Coke, Sprite and Grape, I think it's the healthiest, no?

After stuffing my face with the fabulous steak and *holy sound* fries, we had, that's right, DESSERT! My favorite part of any meal! Though Sizzler is not like JustAcia where you get to pick from tons of different flavors, you are still offered the basics - soft served chocolate and vanilla ice cream. On top of that, you are also offered an array of toppings and sauces to decorate your dessert to satisfy that sweet cavity of yours. For my vanilla soft serve, I topped it with chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, crushed peanuts and raisins. That's basically everything...

Well, other than the rainbow sprinkles because I don't really like those but you're free to top your ice cream with them. Other than the toppings, you have chocolate, strawberry and caramel sauces at your disposal. You can really get fat at Sizzler because of the things they serve you but it's definitely worth it!

Here's my second serving of ice cream! One serving is never enough! For this one, I had the mixed soft serve (chocolate+vanilla) topped with everything but the rainbow sprinkles. Those sprinkles are good for donuts but not for ice cream in my opinion because they tend to stain the cream and make it look funny.

Well, that's about all the photos I have for Sizzler. Overall, we spent almost 50 dollars on a lunch meal but I say it's really worth it. 50 dollars for a meal is actually not that pricey (though it's definitely above average) as compared to Carnivore's 90 dollars.The quality of the food is remarkable, the selection is vast and everything's pretty value for money. Well, that only applies if you're having the lunch deals - the dinner ones burn holes in pockets.

Conclusion: RECOMMENDED!! I will go there again next time to try something else~

Time to end yet another mouth-watering post (blogging about food makes me hungry)~ But before that...

Since I've been mentioning that Australia has a Sizzler as well as Singapore, yes? Now, I realized that Australia and Singapore have more than that in common when I realized that Singapore has a Payless Shoe store as well~ When we visited this in Australia, we were confused because apparently, the shoes were arranged by their sizes so to pick a shoe you want, you have to search via your size. Weird way of shopping for shoes but we believed it to be the Australian's way. Looks like they are invading Singapore too. :)

Well, that's all! I'm still editing the film that I shot at Australia reeeeeeaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyy slowly so please be patient ya? :)

"Dark Phoenix" rise

2011-11-01T10:10:00.001+08:00

24 more excruciating days in the middle of nowhere.

How am I going to continue fighting? It's getting really tiring, especially when I'm virtually stuck alone in a room. Well, maybe it's just a phase and I hate phases.

These few days, I feel like my past self is trying to break out from that mental cage that I used years to create and strengthen - simply put: emo (or whatever you want to call it)

Is it all about pretending not to care, not to know, not to bother, in order for "us" to survive? If only the world wasn't defined like so centuries ago by make-belief rules, "traditional" thoughts and over-conservative mindsets, maybe our reality wouldn't seem as dim.

Being born isn't a crime... Why won't people understand that?

One day though, I'm hopeful that things would change...

It has to...

FORTY DAYS WAR

2011-10-16T00:17:00.000+08:00

"FORTY DAYS WAR 戦うよ

ただ素直に生きるために。。。"

- adaptation of TM Network's "SEVEN DAYS WAR"

The day that I've been dreading is finally here and I'm not one bit excited at all. I still remember the days where I had to go overseas - Japan, Boston, and I don't feel this negativity building inside me. But why is Australia so repulsive? Well, the continent is definitely wonderful for holidays but I'm not going there for fun or games... I'm there to hug some tree in the forest.

Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought... Maybe it would be fun... Maybe maybe...

I will only be coming back to civilization forty days from today. In fact, I'll be flying off at 2:30pm this afternoon and who knows what time I'll reach Australia. Few days back, I didn't have a single bit of emotions about going overseas for an exercise but hours before flying off, I can't really bring myself to sleep even though my eyelids are getting heavy. Nervous~

But at least when I get there, I'll be seeing familiar faces. My platoon will be there and they are probably feeling the same confusion as I am - or not... My best friend will be there... Things will be familiar again but on the other hand, not as familiar...

Staying in the open ain't exciting. I never liked camps in school. Never liked outfield life. I'm a city person, not a "Man vs Wild" adventurer. I prefer concrete and buildings over trees and dirt.

Oh well~ Whining isn't going to change anything...

FORTY DAYS WAR, I'll fight
So I can just be myself

again...

See y'all in forty days!!

Evanescence - Evanescence (Deluxe Version)

2011-10-13T17:16:00.000+08:00

Evanescence is finally back after their long hiatus of a whooping 5 years since their second album "The Open Door" which I still remember getting from Toa Payoh's Popular bookstore just above the bus interchange when I was still in secondary school. Now, that's an extremely long time ago, no?

Their third, self-titled album, was released days ago on October 11, 2011 in most countries and of course, I just had to get it because I had been a fan even before I started listening to ayumi hamasaki or any other J-pop artistes for that matter. Yes~ It was that long ago! I had to call HMV constantly to check if the stock's in and I was pleased that they brought it in right on the release date!

Evanescence (Deluxe Version) is probably one of the unique packagings that I've encountered so far because it's so difficult to photograph! The lighting is hard to get right but with a stroke of luck and probably some experience shooting CDs, I got it anyway~

Let's start looking at the aesthetics of this long awaited rock album!!

Well, this is what I was trying to say when the lighting was extremely challenging to get correct. When I entered the store, the album did not catch my eye until I went up straight to the New Releases section to search for it. When you look at the album straight up, you see the really faint title surrounded by the smoky effects that seem to be disappearing into the darkness.

To make things even more challenging, the back of the album also faces the same problem - disappearing fonts. It seems like the unimportant bar code and other miscellaneous footnotes are grabbing the attention off this album. Looking at the album face front make the album slightly difficult to read visually but...

What I really like about this concept is that with their clever selection of colors and effects, this digipak album performs magic. By just tilting the album slightly to the side, you get a clear view of the wisps and smoke effects without the title being engulfed into the dark. Clever, no? This is the concept of their album art - the notion of what "Evanescence" really means - the act of disappearing and vaporizing.

Also note that unlike their previous albums, this latest creation did not feature lead vocalist, Amy Lee, on the cover. Amy explained that this album is more about the band than about herself gracing the cover and I think that's a really good explanation but I bet there are people like myself who would like to see her on the cover nevertheless.

The back magically glows purple when you tilt it to the side, revealing the titles of the album. This album is printed on just regular cardboard but the effects the artist used and the color choices really worked to the album's advantage of really depicting the meaning of the band, as well as the mysterious properties of this album. BIG LOVE to clever designs!!

A small detail on the cover are these little fonts at the foot of the packaging - the word "Evanescence" written in some futuristic font. This album symbolizes the entry into a new era for the band, bringing their past experiences and expertise along with them and this mixture of the classic "Evanescence" font as well as the appearance of this futuristic font seem to symbolize that.

Well in case you want to have a look at the spine, here it is!! The Deluxe Version is apparently the only version that's for sale in Singapore because I couldn't find anything else at HMV. But with the deluxe version, who would settle for the regular ones right? Just so you know, the deluxe version comes with a making of DVD that includes the music video of their lead single of this album, "What You Want" as well as 4 bonus tracks for just under $23! Definitely worth it~

So, when you open the digipak, you are greeted with the lyric booklet with a clearer version of the title as well as the credits. The lyric booklet is slotted into the right slot at its back page to hold the booklet in place. For a moment, I thought the lyric booklet is stuck onto the album until I went to explore it a little.

The credits. If you looked carefully, you can see that Amy actually plays the harp now! Ain't that cool~?

The font on the lyric booklet without the mysterious, disappearing effects on the cover. Really loving the effects and color choices!!

The other side of the digipak, hidden by the lyric booklet, spots the band in this fierce photo, taken at a desert (see the making of DVD!!). The back of the lyric booklet features photos of the band relaxing and chilling when they are not making music.

And of course, I have to do the band and photographer justice by taking a larger photo of the fierce photo guarding the DVD. Amy looks a bit like a ghost in this photo though - because of her extremely white face. If only they tone down the make up a little bit...

This is how the insides look like when you remove the lyric booklet.Gorgeous gorgeous~~

If you're wondering where the CD and DVD are kept, then I think you've been downloading too many songs already - start buyin' your music! The CD is kept in the sleeve as seen in the photo above. Like I always whine, bitch and complain about, I seriously dislike this packaging style because it provides absolutely no protection to the disc and makes it scratch prone. But again, who listens to CDs straight from the CD players nowadays? I put the songs into my iPod and enjoy it there but that doesn't mean I appreciate scratched discs~

The CD and the DVD laid out side by side. Just so you know, the album that they are selling in Singapore are imported and I believe that the albums that you are getting in your own country would probably be imported as well and therefore, to curb the issue of region lock DVD players, the DVD is REGION FREE! YEAH!!! If only they do that for all my Japanese DVDs... The design of the discs is simple but I would prefer it to be made like the front cover - the special effecty feel...

And now, let's look at the inside of the lyric booklet. The very first page features the lyrics of the lead single "What You Want", which I think is a fantastic song that sounds so different but yet, still has the essence of Evanescence. Energetic but edgy and still fierce nevertheless. My only complaint is that the words are little hard to read because it's so tiny but we have the internet so that can be solved easily. On the other side of the booklet, you see Amy staring into your soul - what a welcoming sight~

The lyric booklet, other than just wonderful, poetic lyrics, features some of the band's photos which I'm more interested in. If you didn't know, I actually like high, long ponytails like the one Amy's wearing on her head in this photo. It somehow helps to elongate your face and make your neck look longer and that is also a good thing to have on photos. :)

Another photo of the band - love the lighting and the back drop!

Musically wise, I haven't really listened to the album yet because the speakers on my laptop are a little wonky but I did watch the Making of DVD and heard the lead single on the radio and on YouTube. But I don't really care because this album looks fantastic and since it's Evanescence, I believe they will truly blow me away with their new creation because they spent well over 5 years to make this album come together. I have high hopes for this album. :)

Well, before I end, I just had to take this photograph...

I think I grew up with Evanescence as much as Evanescence had grew since the 2003 with their highly acclaimed debut album - Fallen. Evanescence had always been the band I turn to if I want something angry/edgy or something that sometimes speak my mind poetic. Their music, though rock and metal, somehow is therapeutic to me and that's why I still listen to them now and then when I'm feeling down or just want something that expresses my emotions.

With a whole new album, I have another outlet to turn to in the future and I'm really excited to see what other singles the band will bring out from this album. I will definitely have a chance to listen to the album fully when I fly over to Australia for my exercise so I'm really excited to know what their third album will bring me.

NEW PHOTOS @ nega+ive

2011-10-09T18:09:00.001+08:00

NEW PHOTOS @ nega+ive featuring Laura & Rena!

I've taken too many photos at Laura's birthday party held at the wonderful hotel, Studio M and because of that, I guess I don't really have much time to post photos of her party and cover it in words this weekend so I shall cheat a little and post you a direct link to my photo blog instead to feast your eyes on some of my favorite beauty shots of my cousins.

Just in case you want some other photos that compromises of my specialty (YES! Unglam shots!!), you can visit my Facebook album at the links below~

Laura's 19th Birthday Party -PART I- Facebook version

Laura's 19th Birthday Party -PART II- Facebook version

Well, enjoy!!

1ST (Saturday) October

2011-10-02T00:12:00.000+08:00

How do I even begin this post? So yesterday before midnight, I booked out from Land of Depression and that managed to curb my darker side within in for at least a few more days before it starts to show symptoms again. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's okay because neither do I.

But before I could even decide what I want to do this lonely Saturday, my bunk mates had well planned a quarter of my day away - and yeap~ I was dragged to go prawning with them, making it my second time prawning at place near Marymount/Bishan/Ang Mo Kio.

Instead of blogging chronologically, I shall rearrange the shots this time round and introduce my "models" from 12am - around 6:30am. Did't really get many fantastic shots because lighting was horrid but let's see what we have... Okay~ First up is Jia Wei and this is one of the first shots I took ~~that~~ night. Technically, it was this morning.

And this is Pei Da. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be persuaded to go because he promised to fetch and send us home! Really nice of him~ Actually, I think I had more fun sitting in his car than prawning because we were pretty crazy by the time we're done prawning. Pei Da drives with such fury that I think I went a little dizzy. Plus, we were brought around Singapore early in the morning because he took the wrong exit and so, instead of heading to Yishun, we went to Commonwealth instead!

I think this is my best shot of Joel for the morning because he's so camera "shy". A little unglam but oh well~ :P

Jun Sheng should be so honored because I think this is my best "catch" of the morning - his face under Jia Wei's arm! Looks almost like a cat peeping out from a hole or something!! I think throughout the night, Jun Sheng was the one who catch the most respectable number of prawns other than Joel.

Beginner's luck? This is one of the first prawns that we caught using the rod. Yes~ Jia Wei and Joel caught some prawns using their bare hands because the prawns were swimming extremely close to the surface. Poor prawns...

Close up of the catch. Lady Luck wasn't on our side this morning and because of that, we only caught like 10 prawns in total, with me contributing to NONE of the 10, unfortunately. I definitely did better on my first trip there - probably because Poo Kwee was more experienced and therefore, my chances were better with his assistance.

Before we went our separate ways after we book out (before we meet up to prawn), we had McDonald's at Yew Tee because Joel had a craving for fast food. From 5pm all the way till 12am, most of us had nothing to eat since we already had dinner and we were starving by the time it was midnight! Luckily, with Pei Da around, no one goes hungry because he's sure to order something. And yes, satays again. This is the third time I'm putting photos of satays on my blog~!!

And the second time chicken wings are appearing as well~ The satay and chicken wings were awesome because I was starving like crazy and couldn't care less if they tasted nasty or not~ :P

After staring at the dark waters for over 3 hours and napping a little in between, we finally settled for the 10 miserable prawns that we caught and went over to cook them. Like my first time there, I flinched every time I see the skewers going through the live prawns because it looks extremely painful. Well here's a photo of Jun Sheng posing with a prawn on stick. The prawn stole the limelight though. :)

While they were cooking the prawns, I was standing at one side partly because I didn't want to get in the way and have them terrorize me with the live creatures and partly because I find it excruciating to watch the prawns on flames because some of them were still alive. Here lies the irony... I love to eat prawns but I don't like to watch them suffer. I can survive on veggies but I still love my meat. How how how? Dilemma dilemma~

I did have a single prawn this morning. Was a little reluctant to eat because the scenes of them hanging onto their last breaths haunt me a little and also because I caught none of the prawns (hee hee) but I did anyway. It was really fresh and sweet and salty because Joel sprinkled like 3 packs of salt all over the prawns. However, I guess it would be more enjoyable if I didn't have to be the one killing the prawns. :S

That basically covers what I did in the morning. After prawning, Pei Da sent us home. I showered and slept till 1pm and at around 2, I rushed out to Great World City to catch...

ayumi hamasaki Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour FINAL ~7 Days Special~ A 3D II!! Wow~ Ain't that a long title~ Initially, I didn't want to spend the money to watch this concert because I already have the DVD and I gathered that the concert is probably just going to be the DVD shown in 3D. But parts of me told me that I might regret if I don't watch it because who knows, ayu might not release 3D concerts in cinemas anymore in the future or that Singapore might not show it. So, I gave into temptation and bought the ticket online weeks ago.

And yes... I went to watch alone because none of my friends are ayu-freaks like myself. Sad sad~ Anyway, the concert was FANTASTIC! I thought that it would be just the DVD shown in 3D, as mentioned above, but the shots are different! The concert is brought to a next level in 3D because it incorporates what's already live on stage with special effects to bring out the mood even more! It's really hard to describe but it was amazing~ The sound was also fabulous!!

Concerning that this concert is to be shown in cinemas, it was unfortunately cut down a lot to fit the one and a half hour time frame. Not all the songs were performed, the interludes were cut away and the emcee was excluded just to make the concert comfortable to watch. Kinda felt a little cheated because some of the songs that were omitted were really good but even with the cuts, the concert felt concrete and still brought across the theme and feel of the actual concert/DVD version.

Verdict: I did not regret spending that money on the 3D version of something that I already own because the experience was so different and extremely entertaining both in terms of aesthetics and the sound. Now, for the REAL concert~~ :)

Just had to take this photo when I got home - my ticket stub with the DVD version of the concert~ It's a pity the stub is too small and they had to resort to printing the words over existing words, resulting in the mess you see in the title. I wonder if ayu will consider releasing the 3D concerts on Blu-rays/3D televisions one day... But I hope if she does that, the concerts will not be shorten to movie standards.

Well~ That's all the photos I have for today. Dreading tomorrow as I have to start packing again for my overseas exercise. Can't wait to get it over and done with because after the exercise, I can start counting down to freedom... :)

*P.S. Pardon my bad English in this post because I'm feeling really sleepy and distracted from blogging but stubborn me still wants to get it done. :)

君がいない時に、私は何もない。。。

Chomp Chomp!!

2011-09-25T15:50:00.001+08:00

Believe it or not, even though I stay relatively near to one of Singapore's most iconic eateries, yesterday was my second time in my ENTIRE LIFE eating at Chomp Chomp @ Serangoon Gardens! If I remember correctly, the first time I ever ate there was when I was hardly 14 years old. That was years ago!

Well anyway, the reason why I suddenly revisited Chomp Chomp after years and years of just passing by this food haven is because Shaun wanted to have some local delicacies (or so we believed) before he goes over to Australia for our exercise. Not like we're not going but he's just going there earlier. We'll see him in a few weeks time in another continent. :)

So, yesterday was a pretty boring day for me because I stayed pretty much at home doing nothing at all until Shaun FINALLY FINALLY decided to plan an event. Since I was bored out of my skull, I started to think whether I should cycle to Chomp Chomp because firstly, it's been awhile since I've cycled. Secondly, I can burn some of the calories I'm bound to intake when I'm there and thirdly, I can be evil and not let SBS earn my money.

BUT! My bike was in a wreck! Oh yes... Did you know there are 2 ways to spell wreck/wreak and they actually mean different things, sort of. "Wreck" is a noun while "Wreak" is a verb. So if you want to say "Wreak havoc", you use the "A" version. Yeap. Just learnt that yesterday while I was checking my spelling for my Tweets - yes, I check my spelling.

Back to my bike which was a disaster. The seat was falling apart because my cat hates it, the brakes are broken, the bell refuses to sound, the pedals constantly cut into my legs and the wheels are flat. Everything that can go wrong with a bicycle basically happened to mine. So...

Around 1 and a half hour before heading down to Serangoon Gardens, I pushed this pile of metal over to the bicycle store nearby to get everything replaced for $45! My budget was actually 50 dollars because I had no clue how much each part costs but since it's within budget, who cares if I'm getting a good deal? This skillful uncle changed everything on my bike that's broken within 30 minutes and with my "brand new" bike, I cycled to Chomp Chomp!

Turned out that I was way early - should have cycled slower because cycling uphill with so much speed is extremely tiring. I don't dare to cycle uphill slowly because that might mean I could lose momentum and fall~ I'm not an excellent cyclist so I rather not risk falling down. Reached there without much difficulties because I saved the map on my iPod but honestly, I hardly referred to it. Instinct rocks! Since I was early, I sat at the bench outside and played Tiny Tower while waiting for the rest.

Considering that it was dinner time, the entire place was filled to the brim and finding a table was extremely challenging - especially when these aunties in the foreground who have obviously finished their food but refused to leave the table because they were admiring the leftovers on their plates. Irritating much? But anyway, this photo was to show how crowded this place is, not the inconsiderate people we encounter in life.

Aaron and Shaun didn't take long to arrive and after waiting for around 15 minutes, we finally got a table because the aunties finally stood up and left. Well, about time! We sat for awhile and shortly after that, Jun Sheng arrived...

We sat beside this store selling sugarcane juice and to save ourselves the hassle of thinking of what to get, we got these huge glasses of tasty, refreshing juice which costs $2.50 for the bigass glass and $1.50 for the regular (but still pretty enormous) glass. See how happy Aaron is with the sugarcane juice!!

I wasn't kidding when I said the $2.50 one is bigass because it really is! Just look at the scale of that glass! And Aaron is obviously very happy~ I'm such a fantastic photographer, no? :P

Our objective of yesterday's dinner was to order lots so that we can share and at the same time, fill our stomachs with them goodies! We basically split up to get the food and here's the menu of the night. First up - stingray topped with sambal chilli!

And for some fibre and vitamins so that all the rest of the food doesn't seem as sinful, we had kangkong in chilli. Crispy crispy greens that goes extremely well with the white rice that we ordered.

One of the signature dishes, in my opinion, of Chomp Chomp is definitely their cockles. For 8 dollars, you get a medium sized serving that can serve around 4 - 5 people! Extremely fresh and definitely delicious! Looking at this photo makes me crave for more~ But unfortunately, you should not have too much cockles at once because it might potentially mess up your tummy.

Other than seafood, we also had land animals like these BBQ chicken wings which tastes fabulous with lime juice squeezed all over the glossy skin. Another one of those signature things that you should definitely eat when you visit Chomp Chomp because every other table is eating it!

Oyster omelet! The oysters are big and juicy and when you eat it with that chilli sauce, it's fireworks in your mouth! In fact, most of the food that we had yesterday night was either spicy or spicy, my palates went really numb half way through dinner and my nose was running because of the explosions in my mouth. If you don't fancy or can't take spicy, ordering what we ordered would be suicide!

The mess we made on the table was epic. Actually, I have clearer pictures of the mess but I decided not to post them because it might ruin your appetite after looking at these marvelous food. This was only halfway through dinner. One tip when you go to Chomp Chomp - bring lots of tissue paper because if you're like me, one who loves to shoot your food, you need to wipe your hands before touching your camera. Plus, these spicy food will make you perspire, make your nose run, etc, the tissue will definitely come in handy. Oh yes~ And to wipe your mouth.

When you order your cockles, they will ask if you want them semi-cooked or cooked and being slightly health conscious, we went for the cooked ones because the semi-raw ones sounds a bit scary. Furthermore, cooking your cockles will kill most of the bacteria and make it easier for you to open with your bare hands.

However, not all the cockles that we ordered were perfectly cooked so Shaun had to use his "lockpick" method to open the shellfish. Extremely unique way of opening the cockles, no?

Took this photo just to spite y'all! Look at that fresh, fat and juicy cockle! We were given this chilli sauce for our chicken wings but it's goes really well with the cockles as well. I want more cockles!!

Even though I KO-ed at the end of our "main course", we decided to go for our last challenge - satay! If you've read my post on the 10 DOLLAR CLUB, you would have realized that we are actually having some of the food that we already had the other day but who cares? They are nice!! :P

If you were to ask me which one I think is better, I would say the oyster omelette at Chomp Chomp is better because it was warmer and the presentation looks so much more appealing. For the stingray, I guess both are tied but the Chomp Chomp one feels slightly more meaty and that's definitely a good thing, no?

As for the satay, I think Chinatown's one might have a better edge because it looks more appealing but taste wise, I can't really differentiate. But when we had satay at Chinatown, we did not taste the mutton ones and the mutton ones are really awesome at Chomp Chomp!

Tip if you don't want to be photographed eating when you're dining with me is not to sit opposite me because you'll be making yourself an open target, like Aaron and Shaun - that's why you see their photos more often than you see Jun Sheng's because he was sitting beside me. 忘れないね～ :D

After stuffing our faces for over an hour, we attempted to walk around the area but Serangoon Garden is so boring! The only places that are interesting are probably like Watsons, Pets Lover, McDonalds? I don't know! There's nothing to look at~ So, we headed over to the bus stop and sat down to chat a little before we went our separate ways...

Well, that's the end of this entry which I have been struggling to get done because MTV is constantly distracting me with Lady Gaga and some other fantastic artistes (minus the Korean girl bands who are like Sentinels coming out from the Master Mold - all look the same). Can't wait for the next weekend where I will head down to Great World City to catch ayumi hamasaki's 3D version of Rock 'n' Roll Circus!!

Wait for me, weekends!

ayumi hamasaki - FIVE (CD+DVD)

2011-09-20T14:00:00.000+08:00

YesAsia is pretty fast this time round when they shipped my order on the very next day I placed my order on their website and therefore, I can promptly bring to you the CD+DVD version of ayumi hamasaki's latest EP - FIVE! Well, not that prompt considering that I could actually have this post posted days ago but oh well~ You know how busy I always am, yes?

Just in case you want to know about how I feel about the album in terms of the music and in comparison to her previous EP - Memorial address, as well as some other photos which are either repeated or only exclusive to the CD-only version of this album, please visit the post on ayumi hamasaki - FIVE (CD-only) by clicking on the link.

Without further ado, I present to you the Queen of J-pop's FIVE!!

Ta da~ My copy of FIVE arrived with a plastic file, courtesy of Avex Trax Hong Kong! It's pretty uncommon for CDJapan not to give any first press / pre-order free gifts like the posters they always send me but it's even more unlikely for YesAsia to even bother shipping free gifts at all - other than the toys that you can get for getting 2 more or Japanese CDs.

This time round, YesAsia amazed me when they decided to sell FIVE along with this plastic folder because YesAsia has always been stingy with the free stuff. I think they probably took the posters from the suppliers and sold them separately instead of bundling them together with the purchases for no extra charge like CDJapan. Anyway, I'm really grateful that this time, they bundled the file with the purchase of the album!

This plastic file can fit paper up to A4 but I doubt I will ever take it out to use because it's too gorgeous to be risked getting crumbled. I shall put it inside the plastic bag that was shipped along with the album to keep it in tip-top condition for collection sake!

The back of the file. Did you know that the album "FIVE" actually has some hidden meanings, as speculated by some ayu fans on the internet? I chanced upon one of their theories of why the font was designed in such a way and the argument is as follows...

Taken from http://ayusstory.blogspot.com
Credit: tokyoxjapanfan of AHS

Well it seems like ayu (or whoever designed the font) had gotten into some Da Vinci thingie going on in the design of her title. As what tokyoxjapanfan from AHS forum interpreted, when you trace the title out , you actually get a hidden word - HOPE. That's the whole theme going on recently for ayu after the devastating disaster that struck her home land in March - the earthquake and tsunami.

Furthermore, I also infer that it has maybe connections with her photo book with legendary Leslie Kee who also took the photos of this EP and what's the name of the photo book you may ask? LOVE & HOPE. Well well~ Dan Brown should consider this a puzzle in his next book!

The details at the back of the file - avex hong kong! When will there be an avex singapore so I can actually become famous even faster? Well, probably in my dreams. Anyway, I don't even know whether I want to consider Singapore as my home in the future anyway considering that the higher ups don't show me no love. *sob*

Weeeee~ ayumi hamasaki's name in that handwriting font.

Back to the album now. The fiercest looking cover since... I don't know? Rule/Sparkle? The previous releases showed a very soft and feminine side of ayu but this time round, she cropped of her hair to this short blonde to make a statement and I like it because it's working very well! ayu has that face that can wear many hairstyles and I bet many girls are jealous of her.

The details of the sticker for the Hong Kong press of this album. It's basically the same as the Japanese one just that it's written in a different language. The first press of the Hong Kong version comes with the file as I've showed off previously as well as a pass code to access the online stream of her COUNTDOWN LIVE 2010 - 2011 A ~do it again~ making video clip on her Facebook page. I guess the clip will probably be featured in the DVD release of the concert as well so no biggie if you missed it.

The back of the album spots the track list of the CD as well as the DVD. Well, the obvious difference between the CD-only version and this version is that this version comes with the DVD featuring the music videos of all the tracks as well as their corresponding making clips.

The subtle differences between the album is that in the CD-only version, you get the orchestra version of I dare say my favorite track of this album, "beloved" while in the CD+DVD version, you get an extra hidden track in BRILLANTE - Why... featuring Urata Naota. Well, just like the good ol' days where ayu hide hidden tracks in her songs.

The album without the obi, in case you are dying to see.

The insides is pretty much like any other typical CD+DVD layout - the CD on the left, DVD on the right and the lyric booklet appearing in the center. The CD looks exactly like the one that we've seen in the CD-only version posted previously on this humble blog.

I think the DVD looks better though - a really dark gray, almost approaching black. It's a pity the title of the album is almost fading away into the darkness. Could have inverted the colors of the blacks and white to make it stand out even more. But I guess since V also means Five in the Roman numerals, it makes sense to make it stand out.

Well I shall not go through what the lyric booklet has because other than the front cover, everything else in the lyric booklet is exactly as how you've seen it in the CD-only version. If you still have not gotten enough hints of me asking you to read that post as well for the full coverage of this album, please smack your own butt and then, click on the link to bring you to ayumi hamasaki - FIVE (CD-only) to read more!

To end, I shall show you an awesome photo - probably one of my favorite album shots so far, of both versions of FIVE in the same frame! Enjoy the album as much as I enjoy it!! It's FIVE-TASTIC!!

Amuro Namie - Checkmate!

2011-09-19T14:00:00.000+08:00

I know this album is way overdue because it was released in April and it's already mid-September. Originally, this album was scheduled to be released on March 23 but due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it was delayed - just like how ayumi's remix albums were also delayed.

But what delayed this post is because I never took notice of this album until recently. Okay - I did take notice of the awesome cover art because Namie looked stunning but considering that this is just a compilation album with other artistes, it didn't really struck me as something that I would listen to...

Until I saw that this album was second to Adele's "21" album on some chart that I thought that maybe I didn't give this album enough of a second chance so, to get that free toy from YesAsia, I purchased this album along with the CD+DVD version of ayumi hamasaki's "FIVE" - which will be featured in another post.

Introducing Amuro Namie's compilation album which came in a digipak format - Checkmate! Ain't that wind in the air and pose fierce for this really tall singer? Like I always said, I would love to see her in a runway show because of her long legs and how she strut her stuff during her tours - damn cool! I'm loving the whole concept of the album art - the chess pieces with her standing out like the Queen - the Queen of R&B in J-Pop~

What's special about this album is that it features songs that Namie collaborated with other artistes - therefore, I believe the term they use for this album is an collaboration compilation album. What a mouthful! Unfortunately though, there are lots of artistes that I've never seen before and the only few that I can recognize are like Anna Tsuchiya - the one who tries too hard to top Koda Kumi but still hasn't capture my attention. As for the rest, I think my knowledge of the J-pop industry isn't vast enough to recognize their names. Maybe I've seen them somewhere before but they don't really ring a siren in my mind.

I believe this is like the third digipak album that I have of Namie and I guess that's like her trademark packaging though since BEST FICTION. Did you know that this packaging style is actually patented? Which means I think they have to like seek permission if they want to use this packaging but that's the label's business. What I'm concern about is how they make it work. For instance in Checkmate!, they greet you with a fierce photo of Namie alongside the CD.

And to do her justice, I shall zoom in for you! Loving her outfit and how flawless her skin is it almost looks airbrushed~

And when you lift up the other side, you see the DVD inside and I wonder when I will actually have the time to watch the DVD. Well, that shall go onto my endless list of things to do. I'm surprised that ever since I started reviewing packagings, I have been taking photos again and again and again and I don't even get bored of it even though I may repeat a lot of the same things again and again and again. In the middle there, you see the lyric booklet. Let's zoom in!

Onto the small easel that I got from Daiso for 2 bucks~ The lyric booklet replaces Namie with a huge chess piece and I thought that was clever because otherwise, Namie's photos will be kinda reused over and over again considering that the photos inside the lyric booklet seems reused anyway. Why waste the outfit right? They should have taken more shots of her playing around with the set for a variety of poses as opposed to the same old standing-there-looking-fierce ones.

Well this photo looks familiar, no? The first page of the lyric booklet reused the photo of the digipak and it makes me wonder why they refuse to take more photos of this gorgeous lady! Even close ups of her face or something else to give this album more variety in terms of the aesthetics wouldn't do much harm right? On the left of the front page is the track list. Yeap.

How the lyrics look like. They used the concept of black and white marbles are the back of the lyric booklet and other than that, there was nothing really special about the lyrics section. Like the norm of all compilation albums in Japan, the pictures inside the lyric booklet is kept to a bare minimum for some weird reason. Maybe because the budget allocated for compilation albums is smaller? That's my bet.

And the last page of the lyric booklet finally features Namie with a slightly different pose and different facial expression but the camera angle did not change at all.

Musically wise, I think the album is a good album to listen to when you want to feel hyped up or you want to practice your runway walk because it's very upbeat and electronic. Some of the songs sound a little familiar but they somehow manage to differentiate themselves pretty well. The album also features a bonus song which is unlisted in the track list - Want Me, Want Me featuring another artiste with Namie in her classic. Really interesting reinterpretation~ I like!

Once again, Amuro Namie released a really aesthetically pleasing album in the form of yet another digipak with some repeated photos which are nevertheless stunning and gorgeous. Hopefully her next album will feature slightly more angles of this beautiful R&B queen as opposed to taking her in the same static shot over and over again. Come on photographer~ Do her some justice!

10 DOLLAR CLUB + Food at Chinatown

2011-09-18T13:54:00.000+08:00

This post marks the first post of the three that I shall "marathon" today before I go for my dreaded hair cut. Why must I always be cutting my hair like every two weeks? It's not as though I want to be born with thick hair~ Oh well~ Stupid regulations that doesn't make sense always drives us crazy, no?

Well, shall get back to the topic because I haven't got much time to dawdle now. Since last week, my friends from my platoon were considering singing this Saturday because Shaun wanted to and thus, he was the official organizer though Jun Sheng did most of the bookings and logistics. It was meant to be somewhat like a "farewell" thingie before he goes over to Australia.

Considering that it was my first time heading over to this KTV called the $10 DOLLAR CLUB located along Smith Street at Chinatown, hidden behind the popular Food Street (or at least that's how I call it), I shall review it a little over here to evaluate if it's worth going for a second time, yes? Hopefully this post will be informative for people who are looking for cheap and good deals.

And what's my blog post without pictures, yes?

Here's the entrance of the 10 Dollar Club and yes, I know it looks a little sleazy but it's perfectly clean. At least that's what I can say when the sun's up. If you have difficulties looking for it, just keep looking on the right side when you're walking down Smith Street (the Food Street) and you'll definitely find it. If you are anyhow taller than me, you should be able to spot the signs on the top of the building.

To get to the KTV, you have to take this wooden stairs all the way up to Level 3 to ask for the rooms. Weird, no? Considering that Jun Sheng already made a booking before we went there, we were kinda secured a room. I suggest you do the same too because after this post goes public, I believe more people will go there. Yes - I hope my blog's that influential too.

Once everything's settled, you will go to your room on your own. No escorts like K-box or PartyWorld but they don't really need one because there are not many rooms to begin with. Therefore, you should make early reservations all the more because even though this place is not popular, the number of rooms just won't support too many singers too.

The room is so much better than the ones at Teo Heng @ Tanjong Katong Mall. They may not be as spacious but at least they are not cheap-looking. The sofa (pictures later) and stools are comfortable and most importantly, the air con is working! The last time I went to Teo Heng, the air con was almost not there and I proclaim that the hottest K-session I've ever been to.

Unfortunately, the room's still quite small but should fit 4-5 people comfortably. Oh by the way, we got a smaller room because the bigger ones were taken up so too bad for us. The television looks okay and compared to some of the rooms in Ang Mo Kio's K-box, I say this is better because AMK's K-box are still using the old bigass TVs.

One of the most important factor of choosing a place to sing is of course, the song selection. I would say that the song selection is pretty reasonable - considering that they have some of ayumi's later songs like "Last angel", just like K-box and Teo Heng but they lack a lot of the older songs. Not to mention that some of the songs are misspelled. But that's just for my case.

In terms of Chinese songs, I don't think there's much to complain about because the system is pretty updated as far as I'm concerned. Shouldn't lose out to the likes of Teo Heng. For English songs, I think it's still okay. The overall song selection, I would say, is surprisingly solid but probably just a few notches below the more popular K-box or PartyWorld.

What bugs me a little is the system they use for you to pick your songs. They use a touch screen that's a little unresponsive but nevertheless, gets the job done. However, I would suggest just sticking to the remote because trying to wrestle with the screen is a little annoying. The photo above shows the main menu of the interface.

The system does not sort the artistes into their respective languages and therefore, you have to go through a long list of artistes before you find yours - a little time wasting. However, once you get the hang of it, it should be easier. They should really polish their song selection system to make the experience better. Definitely a huge minus in terms of singing experience.

Here's Aaron and Shaun singing together, as always. Like I said, the room's really squeezy so even trying to take a picture with myself all cornered there proves to be a challenge but this is the best I could do. The sound system is okay but I believe K-box's better.

Close up close up~ Random photo that has nothing to do with the ratings of this KTV.

If you are a fan of free flow stuff, then you would love the 10 Dollar Club because all drinks on their menu are free flow! However, the down side is that their selection is pretty limited as compared to the other popular KTVs, less Teo Heng which doesn't even provide drinks. BUT!! Free flow things are always better, no? I got the hot honey yesterday and it was really, really good! And if you get tired of drinking the same drink throughout your session from 2pm - 7pm, you can request for a change at no extra charge!

If you are a regular singer like I am, you would have experienced the hassle of trying to add up all the hidden fees of K-box and PartyWorld. The KODs, the charges for the services, beverages and snacks, extra costs for the ridiculous wet tissues you probably will never use, etc. No fancy fancy stuff at the 10 Dollar Club. Just look at their hand written receipt! $10 means $10 and that's that! They even waived off the 10% service charge because of their promotion! Promotion or no promotion, price wise, 10 Dollar Club wins HANDS DOWN!

Service wise, I would say that even though we were served by an *ahem* talent, she was really hospitable! Using the remote or touch screen, you can call for service and she will appear promptly to take your orders or refill your drinks. On top of that, what amazed me was her initiative. You know sometimes when you sing, you get those nasty feedbacks (the EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEE!!!! sound)? She heard it from another place and came over to assist us even without us asking! That's good service!

Verdict of the 10 Dollar Club? I say if you are looking for a cheap place to chill out, drink some non-alcoholic drinks non stop and sing your hearts out until you get tired, you can try the 10 Dollar Club because it's cheap and reasonable. The song selection and system may be a little annoying but once you get over it, you will definitely enjoy yourself there, I promise. On top of that, the service is also not bad and pretty prompt as compared to the K-box where you have to call nonstop to pester them for refills.

Therefore, I would recommend the 10 Dollar Club! Go experience it yourself~

Well, after singing our hearts out, some of them left to meet their other friends for dinner while Victor, Shaun and I walked along the Food Street to search for our potential dinner. More pictures!!

The evening scene at Chinatown's Food Street which boasts a wide selection of local delights which are amazingly good but slightly pricey because they are not meant for locals anyway - they are aiming at the foreigners' wallets. One good thing about singing at the 10 Dollar Club is that you hardly need to consider where to go for dinner because you have a whole variety to choose from the moment you step out onto the street! How convenient!

Are you ready for some FOOD PORN?! This is the Laksa (noodles with a thick gravy made of spices and coconut milk for y'all Non-Singaporean readers out there!!) that I had for dinner yesterday and because of it, my voice sounded real sexy yesterday night. The laksa costed 5 dollars but it was really good though - springy noodles soaked in the fantastic gravy accompanied with a generous serving of huge cockles! Yummy~

Eating with 2 big eaters have some perks when you get to taste a bit of the food that they order. Besides their main staples, they ordered lots of sides, like this oyster omelet where I took out the oysters just to photograph while they went on their food hunt. The oysters are reasonably big and juicy and of course, it's delicious in that chilli sauce!

The Char Kway Teow that Victor and Shaun each had yesterday evening. Even though it looked real normal, from what they said, it was pretty awesome~ Maybe I will go try it out one day.

Stingray anyone? Topped with sambal and accompanied with lime and some chopped onions - or what looks like onions. Really good this one!! Sadly, my stomach went KO after I finished my laksa and I couldn't swallow more food so I only had a little bit of this but that little bit was heavenly!

And of course, we had satay as well. Yes - they are monstrous eaters and when they kept bringing food back to the table, my jaw went down and down and down. Well at least they lived up to their reputations of being extremely huge eaters. These satays, like the rest of the food, are good too! Gosh I wonder how much calories I took in yesterday... :S

The food on the table yesterday evening and this is not even all of them!

Victor and Shaun enjoying their dinner. I was struggling to find space to rearrange the food for the photos because there were so many plates on the table!

And to wash everything greasy and fattening down, we had glutinous rice balls (tang yuan) for dessert. They are really good and they costed only $2 for 5 amazing rice balls served in this delicious peanut soup! Just look at how generous the peanuts are in the soup! You can choose to either have all 5 of their flavors (peanut, yam, red bean, green tea, sesame) or do it your own way~ Cheap and extremely delicious dessert!!

Okay then! Enough of the food!! Making me hungrier as I type. Shall end here and go have my lunch of instant roti prata with curry and maybe after that, go for my hair cut. Hate hair cuts because the queue's forever so excruciating long. Oh well~ What to do what to do??

Sending Alvin

2011-09-11T14:15:00.004+08:00

The time has finally come for the started of the most dreaded part of my year - Exercise Wallaby. Well, not that I have the rights to complain anyway since I'm lucky enough to be posted to a unit that requires me to go hug some tree in someone else's country's forest. Oh well~

But at least I'm only going there like somewhere next month so I can still enjoy the air in Singapore whilst I still can. Actually, going to another country isn't such a bad idea but for the sake of putting on an elaborate show with a budget good enough to shoot a really good war film, I say uh-uh. I rather go for holidays - more suited for the free me.

Enough of me. Well, Alvin had to go over to Australia to prepare some stuff for this exercise and therefore, he had to go way before anyone of us actually fly over to the Land of Kangaroos. Before he goes, we had dinner together, just as a formality or something like that at Causeway Point's Swensen's - the renovated one!!

I just had to post what I had that night - the Chicken Victoria. Basically, it's just chicken breast (Mmmmm~ Healthy!!) topped with some white sauce which I swear is made from mushrooms and accompanied with mashed potatoes, cauliflower, tomato and long beans.

I felt extremely cheated because I got this entree thinking that it would be served with potato wedges as described in the menu and photographed as so but no! They gave me potato in another form! So I was thinking that they probably went out of potatoes and broccoli and had to make do with these cheaper alternatives instead.

The chicken is surprisingly tender. I was half hoping it to be really dry so I could complain and change my entree because of the vegetables that they gave wrongly. The only reason why I didn't really made a scene back then was because Yahya already "did" a few days back with her bad experience at this particular outlet. Well, they were plain unlucky but I shan't venture there. Unfortunately, you'll get sick of this chicken after finishing the first slice so I would highly recommend you to get the fish if you are looking for healthier choices - this tastes like patient's food from a hospital.

And did you know that Swensen's damn smart? There's no Feedback/Complain form on their website and therefore, it makes it so inconvenient to vent my frustration that I have to do it here. Smart move! But boo hoo to you because I still get to vent! HUR!! But too bad - their ice-cream still rocks.

The next day, we sent Alvin to the airport. Well, nothing really interesting there - just saw some familiar faces and lots of army personnel. Took some photos...

For instance this one where I took a photo of someone taking a photo of me. Did I mention that I actually love these micro four third cameras because they are lightweight, sleek looking and delivers almost DSLR-quality photos! I tried one of Sony's latest releases at one of their stores that day (can't remember which model it was) and it was really speedy! So if you're on a budget but looking for a kick ass camera, you may want to consider these cameras over DSLRs. Worthy investment.

Besides us, friends, Alvin's parents also sent him off. The only time I can get pictures of them together is probably because of big events like such. Sadly, I can't get a photo of their reunion when he gets back because I'll still be stuck in Australia. Sigh~

Had one of Alvin's friends to take this photo for us. :) For more wacky shots, view my Facebook album! I have some fabulous unglam shots! :P

If you've been to a holiday before, you know that the airport is anything but speedy because of all the waits, anxiety and chaos. So while waiting for something to happen, we took some crazy photos like this one - Invasion of the No-Neck Monsters (well, other than Alvin who still has one). I look fat!

Before we walked around Terminal 1 to kill some time, Alvin checked in his luggage and being a paparazzi, I took a picture of him only to accidentally snap one of his platoon mates entering the frame. Talk about photo bombing...

I wanted to try again but a bigger bomb came into the frame. Oh well~ At least I get a photo of a gorgeous Caucasian butt as a consolation.

If you did visit my Facebook album (good boy/girl), you would have realized that some of the photos here are not posted there simply because it doesn't really have much meaning. Like this one - Orange the Second. This is his first flight like Alvin, unlike Orange the First who went to US with me when I went to GAMBIT. They may look the same but they are different. :)

And finally, Alvin went through the glass doors and was never to be seen again, until like probably 9 weeks from now? Think that would be the next time I would get to see him. Since the night was still young, we decided to walk around Changi Airport for cheap deals because the things there are GST free! That's like shopping in a mall with mall-wide 7% discount! Coolness!! Even Barbie has to nod in agreement.

Took the Sky Train to Terminal 3 because Terminal 1 was extremely boring - the only thing you have there is a Watson's store and some restaurants. They are having some aviation show at Terminal 3 if you guys are interested but honestly, there isn't much to see unless you're interested in airplanes and stuff. Wouldn't it be cool if this structure is made of ice as opposed to glass/plastic? :)

They have this huge plane structure outside the exhibition area and they are having this Name-the-Mascot competition. Do down to check if out if you're keen on winning something (an iPad, I think - that's like a typical prize nowadays, no?).

And the last photo before I continue watching America's Next Top Model - a little boy doing a No-Neck for his mom who was trying really hard to get him to cooperate for a proper photo. Kids are the best unglam models because they are not exactly unglam - they are innocent and adorable and whatever they do just appear right on camera, no? :) But bad behavior should never be tolerated, like not cooperating with the photographer. :P

Well, that's the end of this entry. Considering that I cannot go to my second home nowadays before I book in, I suppose I will have more time to stay at home to work on blog entries (even though they are as useless and of no literacy value like this one - oops) or to watch a bit of telly and long overdue DVDs and stuff. Oh well~

Can't wait till I get back my rightful ID card and regain my wings of freedom because this lifestyle sucks.

Take care of yourself and Orange the Second. We'll be waiting for you to come home...

ayumi hamasaki - FIVE (CD-only)

2011-09-07T22:33:00.000+08:00

Surprise surprise! Instead of a new single, ayumi hamasaki, Empress of J-Pop is releasing a mini-album titled rather un-creatively "FIVE", which basically represents the 5 songs present in her second EP after "Memorial Address" years ago.

Yesterday, my copy finally arrived at my door step and I was so excited even though I was in camp because I've previewed some of the songs and they are extremely promising. In fact, I already have a favorite song in mind and I shall talk more about it later on in this post!

Well~ Let's look at this awesome album in pictures~

This album is released in 3 formats - the CD+DVD, CD-only and CD-limited edition and this time, I went for an unconventional choice in my opinion because this is the first Japan CD-only album that I bought because it comes with a bonus track. The limited edition one has nothing interesting other than a bunny girl replacing ayu on the cover and a downloadable character for the game "Tales of Xillia" and considering that I won't get that game, it wouldn't make sense for me to get the limited edition. I'll be getting the CD+DVD version once Hong Kong releases it - you know why, yes? :)

One of the prominent things you'll notice in this mini album is that ayu is really going out to collaborate with other singers such as JUNO (honestly, until today, I have no idea where he's from but I do know he's related to Tohoshiki or something) and Urata Naota. Besides that, she is working alongside with renown celebrity photographer, Leslie Kee (my idol!!) for the photos in this album. Stunning stunning!! Anyway, the CD-only version comes with the orchestra version of "beloved"~

The details on the sticker basically describes the song a little, like giving info on where the song is used elsewhere - be it the theme song of a video game, for commercials, etc. Almost all Japanese albums/singles should have this sticker on it. At least they are not stuck on the album itself like how they do it in Singapore press English albums - makes the cover ugly and clustered.

The obi!! It's been awhile since I blogged Japanese releases and how I miss the obis!! :P Like I said, the album is un-creatively named "FIVE" but at least the font used is interesting. Well, if you read my Adele's "21" packaging review, you would have realized that this wouldn't be my only album titled after a number. Come on now seriously~ Think of better names please!

I just had to take a photo of the album without the plastic covering because it's so gorgeous! In fact, I think this is one of her better covers in her recent releases because the rest are just way too simple~ Loving her high fashion clothing here and how she rocks her short hair! Well, it could be because the photographer, Mr. Kee, is amazing too!! Normally, I find that the covers of the CD-only versions of her albums or singles not as attractive as the CD+DVD version but this time, I think otherwise because this is really good~

Opening the case, you'll see the shiny pewter CD with the title of the album welcoming you into this short but fantastic album. Simple disc design but I'm liking it anyway~

It wouldn't do justice to Leslie if he isn't given a chance to show off his skills with ayu being the model in this album and he certainly didn't let go of this chance! The photos in this album is simply stunning. Well anyway, this is the first page of the lyric booklet.

Yes!! Lyrics for once! As usual, ayu wrote all the lyrics of this album even though she collaborated vocally with various artistes. She's always in control of what she's singing and that makes her songs sincere and true to who she is and because of that, people connect with her emotionally. That's why even after a decade, she still kicks ass and commands respect in Japan's music industry.

One of the photo spreads in the lyric booklet. It's a pity that she didn't go out to show off more high fashion dresses or go out to do location shoots. Oh well~ Considering that this is a mini-album, it can be forgiven, no? But but~~ She did take some good shoots with settings in her Memorial Address album though...

The song that hit me instantly - beloved!! This soothing ballad is accompanied with a promotional video featuring children as well as her "Under the same sky" concept which she had been trending on Twitter months ago. Initially, I was slightly skeptical to the standards of this album because of the collaborations but this song gave the album a chance to shine. Definitely my favorite song in this album~

Last photo - just to give my idol some due credit for his stunning photos - Mr Leslie Kee! Just some background regarding this person in case you don't know who he is. Like myself, he's a Singaporean who went to Japan to pursue his passion for photography and because of his determination and how he is able to self-motivate, he became extremely successful. He worked with divas like ayumi hamasaki, Koda Kumi and even Lady Gaga - all my favorites! I aspire to be like him - a photographer of famous people + high fashion!!

In terms of the music, this album is not a letdown. Even though it lacks a happy or summer song (it's not even summer right now so I suppose you can forgive that, no?), the different songs have different feels. I'm not that good in verbalizing my thoughts for music but what I can do is to show you the CM for her album below to give you a feel of how good this masterpiece is before I end this entry~

Good eh!! Okay~ Shall end here~ Until I buy my next CD!! :)

Alvin's 21st YEAR (Belated belated belated!!)

2011-08-27T01:25:00.001+08:00

DISCLAIMER:
Might take longer to load on slower internet connections/computers

due to massive photo bombardment.
Please wait patiently as patience is a virtue...

I know I know~ This event has been I think over a month now and I'm only able to blog it right now because today, I didn't have to go to West Coast Park to run like a horse and therefore, I'm able to come online relatively early to prepare the images for this blog entry as well as to revamp my tumblr blog! Can't really blame me right because I don't really have all the time in the world to blog every single day, even though I want to so badly~

Let's cut to the chase because I don't think I have much time to complete this entry. Time is ticking and my weekend is going to end in a matter of days. Sad reality of being in the army when you cannot even choose what you want to do with your life. Talk about human rights...

Alvin has been like my best friend since polytechnic days though not many people realize because we each have our own clique and we do not want to mix school work with personal life. Furthermore, it's going to be inconvenient for each of us to fit into each other's cliques because the chemistry of our work teams would be different. But outside, we are still extremely good friends.

And therefore, I decided to help him plan for his big day on July 30, 2011 - that's like almost 2 weeks after his actual birthday which fell on the 19th. Well, due to lots of clashes with other birthday parties that we have to attend as well as endless weekend duties that just has to ruin our lives, we had to push the date till so far back because everything came so unexpectedly. But at least we have a blast and I have photos to prove that!

Well~ Let the film roll~~

For starters, this is the present that I gave him - a big gray cardboard box with a bow on top. Considering that he spent so much on my birthday presents (Little Big Planet 2: Collector's Edition + Gilded Tarot deck + Parker fountain pen), I can't possibly be stingy and just get something small. Therefore, I gathered a couple of random things and threw them into the box to give it more "volume". As for what I bought, that's for me to know and for you to find out! (Hint: Facebook is a great start!!)

And let's jump to the actual event at Changi Village Hotel. We've been researching on where we can hold the party and we considered multiple hotels and even restaurants (which are way too overpriced). We did consider chalets but you know Singaporeans - they book their chalets like eras before they even go there so trying to secure one even during non-peak periods is such a challenge.

Lucky for us, Changi Village Hotel is reasonably priced and is actually not that bad - other than for the fact that they do not provide toothbrushes. I mean, what kind of a hotel doesn't provide toothbrushes in the bathroom?! At least they do send it to you when you request for it though...

For the theme of the decoration, as the event planner as well as logistics as well as maid as well as everything else that fits in between, I went with photographs which, obviously, I took. Well, at least most of them I believe, featuring the birthday boy along with his friends and some of his best portraits.

Prior to heading down to the hotel, we met Yin Zhi and Hazel who came all the way from the North to Hougang just to find me (touched~) so we can head down together via the cab because we had so much to bring over. And while waiting for the arrival of the guests, they helped me with some of the decorations and first of all, that would include playing Monopoly deal while picking photos. (photo above)

I developed photos of Alvin in various sizes to give some variation in the decorations and of course, I picked those that he took along with his polytechnic clique, his BMT mate, my cousin's dog, his parents, etc. Just looking through these photos make me realize I actually have lots of photos of other people's lives other than myself. :P

This is how I went about with the decoration - the darkroom feel. Got these wooden pegs at some random store near by camp for only slightly over a dollar for 80 pieces as well as a roll of string which costed the most ($3 something I believe). I was almost afraid that I couldn't find these wooden pegs because nowadays, everyone's either using hangers or plastic cloth pegs because they are so much more sturdy and doesn't decay or get termites attracted to them. The left portrait, by the way, is one of my favorite portraits ever!

While decorating and waiting for the guests to arrive, I used Alvin's laptop to inform people on Facebook on how to arrive at the location because honestly, the hotel isn't that easy to find but it's not impossible though. It's one of those secluded corners of Singapore that no one really goes to unless they are looking for food at Changi Village. The hotel does not have wireless internet but somehow, we managed to leech off the country club opposite our hotel's internet. Coolness~ :P

Instead of a typical guest book, we went with the concept of using a cork board along with name cards for the guests' birthday wishes. I wanted to us this concept for my birthday but eventually went with a photo album instead since it's more "my style" so we got to use this concept for this party! Got the small wooden stand from Daiso and now, you'll see it featured in my CD photo shoots! Useful!!

With help from Hazel and Yin Zhi, we didn't take long to settle down and to pack the things neatly away so while waiting for the arrival of the guests as well as the food, I took portraits of them all (see Facebook album for more!!) and here's the portrait of the belated-birthday boy~ The lighting from the window was so favorable for portraits that I couldn't help but drag everyone there for me to photograph~

Unfortunately for us though, is that the hotel room isn't that spacious. Luckily again, we almost picked another hotel with an even smaller room based on the respective hotel's room specifications. During the actual party (you'll see shortly), the place got a little crowded but at least it wasn't extremely uncomfortable. Well this photo's just to show the relative size of the room as well as to depict the calm before the storm...

Being clever people like myself, we thought of an idea to bypass the security of the hotel. Due to the fact that each room should not hold too many people, we diverted all guests to the sky pool on level 8 to wait for us to fetch them to divert attention from the security guards. Another reason is because the accommodation levels require the guest's key card to access so we have to personally go upstairs to fetch them down.

In case you didn't know, the hotel's just a stone throw away from Changi Airport and it overlooks one of the most dreaded island of Singapore - Pulau Tekong. Therefore, planes flying across the sky isn't a rare sight and I actually managed to capture like a few photos of planes flying. The above photo is an enlarged version of one of such photos because I'm too poor to afford a telephoto lens. :P

The first group of guests to arrive is Ain and Yahya and I was the one who went upstairs to fetch them (thus the above airplane photo). Took this photo while they were getting comfortable on the 2 single beds placed side by side. Weird design considering that they could have just placed a Queen or King sized bed there.

Well I was obviously not the photographer of this photo. While I went upstairs to fetch Daniel, I left my camera in the room and I believe Yin Zhi managed to snap one of the most epic photos of the evening - Ain jumping on the bed and getting her head out of the frame. It seems as though Daniel and I were a little startled to see a mad woman jumping up and down in this photo. Really interesting composition~

While Alvin went across the street to collect his polytechnic clique as well as the food, Daniel - master artists of birthday gifts and cards - started to work hard as usual. It's such a waste that he's not in design because he has that sense of aesthetic for laying out things that many of us (myself included) lack. He's always the one making the birthday cards for the hosts and I must say he did a really great job! Remember the album that they made me during my birthday (check out my birthday posts - click on the links on the right of this blog), he did the bulk of the job! Amazing~

However, he tend to do the gifts on the actual day itself though... Not so tactical right? :P

Due to the fact that we had Muslim friends and that the food that we got for the majority of the people is unfortunately and ironically not Halal-certified, we ordered Pizza Hut for these 2 fine ladies and apparently, people preferred the pizza over what we got for them. Maybe it's more tasty? Maybe it's easier to eat? Maybe it's less messy? I have no clue~

And I bet you're wondering what's this "food" I've been talking about. We got 4 huge platters of Subway sandwiches and I believe we got like 80% of the menu in these 4 platters because we were unsure of who would eat what so we didn't want to take our chances. These platters are not exactly very cheap but at least they can feed a whole horde of mostly army and hungry people and we had a huge amount of leftovers in the end. Should have gotten less.

But hey~ You have to admit that hardly anyone would think of serving Subway sandwiches at a party right? It's convenient, everyone will eat it and you hardly need any utensils to enjoy a sandwich! And if you're wondering who came up with this ingenious idea? I did! :P But we kinda overestimated the amount and so, we had Subway all the way till the next day. Scary!! And the room smelt like sandwiches for the entire event.

In order to entertain the guests, other than stuffing their faces so they cannot complain about anything, Alvin connected his hard disk to the HDTV in the room and showed movies after movies after movies for the guests to enjoy. I think that night was the night where I've watched the most movies within a few hours! Normally, my stamina for movies is just one - I just can't survive a marathon!

What's Subway without its marvelous cookies?! Knowing that our guests would really appreciate these delicious sweet treats, we got like 5 dozens of assorted cookies and that means, we got almost every flavor that was in the menu - double chocolate chip, macadamia nut, raisins, peanut butter, etc! And of course, the cookies received really good response because by the end of the whole thing, 85% were finished~

Throughout the whole evening, Daniel had been trying really hard to tactically work on Alvin's birthday present but with so many pairs of eyes in the small room, doing so was extremely challenging so we gave an excuse to go up to the roof top for a breather because the room was getting a little stuffy. The real reason was, of course, to work on the present. Hardworking Daniel!!

And my personal agenda was obviously to take photos. :D The sky pool was really gorgeous at night and you get to see streaks of airplanes flying through the sky~ Reminds you of that B.o.B song right?

See how blue the pool is even at night? Just to show off the scenery of the sky pool. The hotel may be low but it's definitely not a cheapskate one! There were actually still people swimming in the pool but I guess the photo's so dark you can't really spot them.

We took lots of jump shots just to pass time as well. Taking photos of jump shots at night is really difficult because you need the camera to be fast but yet, technically, it's hard to achieve that without a flash. Even with the assistance of the light, it's still challenging but at least the process is enjoyable. Not to mention tiring too...

And here's my best shot! Don't really like what I did with my other leg because it looks amputated but at least the lines and body gesture is FIERCE!! :) And my body actually looks shamelessly good here. :P

After messing around on the roof like kids gone wild, Daniel finally finished the masterpiece and I got him to pose with it while the rest popped into the frame and added limbs to him.

As some of Alvin's friends had to leave early due to commitments or fear of not catching the public transport, we had to cut the cake at around 9 something-ish. Prior to checking in, we managed to get the restaurant at the lobby to hold the cake for us - so helpful of them! When the time came, we went downstairs to fetch the cake and placed it at the most inappropriate place ever - the toilet. You must be wondering why we placed the cake in the bathtub. That's because there was nowhere else we can put it! All the tables were occupied!

A very 80s cake design from Leon's girlfriend's family bakery. It's the first time in my entire life seeing such a huge slice of mango on a cake! This chocolate coated cake is topped with an assortment of fruits and honestly, I have no idea why the design is like so because we never really had the chance to pick a design nor design a cake ourselves. The baker kinda just threw everything together for us.

Like I said, due to space constraints, we had to do everything in the bathroom and along with Daniel, we placed 21 candles on the cake. But it looks slightly disastrous though...

TA DA!! Because the cake was coated in crispy chocolate (those that you find on Magnum ice-cream), it was a impossible to put the candles on the cake itself without creating a mess on the smooth chocolate surface because it would crack into pieces, we had to poke the candles on the fruits. Good thing there were lots of fruits for us to poke at - otherwise we seriously have no idea where to place the candles.

The candle artists in the toilet. :P

One of the most frequent mistakes I make at a birthday photo shoot is that we light the candles and take the photos. Considering that our candles were poked in such a messy manner on the fruits, wax is definitely inevitable so we decided to take photos before lighting to prevent us from getting wax intoxication. One of Alvin's friends was kind enough to help us take this amazing shot!

The birthday boy and his cake which we placed on a luggage stand. See~ We're damn good at improvising!!

Another thing that I dislike about Changi Village Hotel is that they do not provide matches like how Swissotel do. Well, probably because Swissotel is such a classier and starrier hotel as compared to this one. Lucky for us though, there was a 7-11 store located within the lobby of the hotel and we managed to get one of these cheap lighters. Otherwise, poor birthday boy wouldn't have any candles to blow out~

Trivia about these candles... When we bought the cake, we actually asked for 21 candles so that the cake doesn't look pathetic with just 3 sticks protruding out but the staff gave us 3 sticks anyway. So, I got Yahya to help me get more candles and she did! In fact, she got those big sticks which represents 10 years each and we used like 21 of these. So in actual fact, the candles on the cake amounted to 210 years old! But we didn't really care~ :P

Daniel being extremely helpful with the candles. I think without Daniel, my job as a planner or maid on that day would be so much more difficult because there's just so much to handle! I still have to take photos you know~

<Insert birthday song here~> With so many candles, who needs flash!

As always, the only girls at the party asked the birthday boy to pick out the candles using his mouth. Lucky for him, no one even attempted to shove his head into the chocolate goodness because he was standing in a corner of the room - inaccessible~ While taking photos of him doing his sabotage, I held a plate (as seen above) for him to drop his candles. I can multitask y'all!!

These are the amazing guests and friends who took the time and effort to attend the party! Well, some left before we managed to take this shot but nevertheless, this photo is one of my favorites of the night because everyone (but me, obviously) is in it! Did you know that it was extremely difficult to take this photo? I had to stand on the back rest of the sofa at the end of the room and squeeze my body into the ceiling just to frame everyone inside. I'm such a devoted photographer *flicks hair*

Besides my DSLR camera, I also took lots and lots of Instax photos for Alvin's guest "book" - featuring him and his guests. I hope I managed to take photos of everyone but I think I missed a couple of them because they went off even before I got the chance to shoot them. Think Yin Zhi took this photo of me taking a photo of Alvin and his friend, Clement.

Another one of my favorite photos for the evening because the colors are so pretty~ Chong Yee came in late because he was at a rehearsal for the National Day Parade but he still took the effort to drop by to celebrate Alvin's birthday. Such a fantastic friend~

As we had the room until noon, some of the guests decided to stay around to watch television. Yin Zhi was meddling with my camera and he took this photo of me coming out from the bathroom after relieving my bowels but being a professional, I know how to block a camera. :) Tip: Remember~ If you cannot see your camera, the camera cannot see you. So block the camera until you cannot see it and you will safely hide your face.

Throughout the night, lots of us KO-ed because we were extremely pooped. Space was an issue again and I had to sleep on the floor with the birthday boy as we let the girls take the bed. Such gentlemen we are! It was extremely cold though so I hardly caught a wink of sleep though.

In the middle of the night though, some of the guests decided to leave - probably because they want to go home to rest I suppose and I saw them out while the birthday boy continued to sleep. 24/7 events planner very hardworking okay~ :P

The sun finally rose and the birthday boy continued to sleep away but this time on the bed because we asked him to make himself comfortable as some of the guests vacate the room for home. While he continued to sleep, Yahya and I took photos of his birthday presents because we had nothing better to do and here they are~ Them presents from his friends!!

And while he still continued to sleep, Yahya and I went to the sky pool once more to look at the morning sky as well as those who woke up early to dip themselves in the cool waters. I say~ This shot can be used as an advertisement of the hotel if it wasn't for the lens flare on the lady sitting by the pool. The clear sky also allowed us to see Pulau Tekong but I don't think I'll be going back there in the near future though...

I had some of the leftover Subway sandwiches for breakfast and here, we have the steak and cheese sandwich and I must say that even though it was left over from the previous night, it's DAMN GOOD! It was the first time I tried this sandwich and I must say that the steak's really tender and juicy and along with the veggies and bread, it makes a perfect meal! If you're stuck with just the Cold Cut Trio or other cheaper subs, try this premium one for a change~ It's really delicious!!

While the Z-monster continues to attack Alvin, I went ahead to pin up all the Instax photos that I took the previous night onto the other side of the cork board. Had to slowly arrange every single frame properly in order to for me to pin them up neatly and yet not have the pins poke through more than 1 photos. But the end result is rewarding, no? :)

Guess lots of people kinda forgot about the guest "book" and left without leaving their birthday wishes but that's okay considering that they did attend the party and that I managed to take their photos anyway~ :)

It wouldn't do justice to Daniel's hard work and creativity if I don't show off his masterpiece so here it is~ He got each of us to write a short wish for Alvin and in his neatest handwriting, Daniel translates our wishes onto the board. He even went to develop these photos which he photographed personally just for this piece of art!

And finally, the event came to an end when we checked out from the hotel. Helped Alvin bring the leftover food as well as presents back home via a cab because carrying bags and bags of things just isn't convenient. At his place, he unwrapped the presents and laid them out for me to photograph~ Guess which presents are from me~ :P

This concludes this really belated post covering Alvin's 21st birthday which I helped to plan most of it (claim credits~ :P) so if you are looking for someone to help you with your party, you know who to look for eh eh? :)

Planning someone else's party isn't as simple, even though I guess it's slightly easier than planning your own because you do not have to host and plan and do the logistics as well as handle photography all by yourself - like what I did for my own birthday. But there's definitely that added pressure because you also want the person's party to rock, no? Especially when it's your best friend's party...

Given the chance, I will definitely help to organize another such event for my friend because though it's tiring, at the end of the day, so long as I did my best and that I know that the host is happy that I managed to give a helping hand, I'm glad too. It also helps to relief the host from some of that hosting stress because he/she has lesser stuff to worry about.

But~ I wouldn't mind just sticking to photographing; it's easier~ :P

Beyoncé - 4

2011-08-21T12:55:00.000+08:00

Well as if the industry isn't flooded with albums with numbers being used as titles... Let's see - we have Do As Infinity with their album "EIGHT", previously reviewed album by Adele "21" and the Queen of J-Pop's upcoming EP titled "FIVE", just to name a few.

And right now, we'll be looking at Beyoncé latest creation titled "4"! I wonder why she named it this way though... Do leave a comment on this post if you know the mysteries of this album.

Anyway, let's get started!

Beyoncé's "4" has one of the, I don't know~ Weirdest photos on the cover? I can barely see her fierce face!! What's with the album arts nowadays? Anyway, "4" was released last month - June 24, 2011 and this marks Miss Diva's FOURTH studio album. Okay~ Looks like I've solved the mystery on my own by just Wikipedia-ing a little.

And as this red sticker says, the Deluxe edition of this album comes with 6 extra tracks (out of which 3 are remixes of the lead single) as well as an exclusive version of the lead single's video. In case you were wondering why I got this album, it's because firstly, it's Beyoncé we're taking about and secondly, because "Run The World (Girls)" is so catchy!

Who run the world? Girls!
Who run this motha? Girls!
Who run the world? Girls!

Somehow, I feel like there's an extra word behind the world "motha" because there's this weird pause when she sings, even live. Cheeky cheeky Beyoncé!!

I think the back of the album looks better than the cover. Maybe the CD shops should considering displaying it this way to turn up the sales, which isn't that horrible but who would complain if their albums are selling better because their butts are really attractive? :)

At least the inside looks promising with this red hot CD greeting you the open you open the casing as well as Beyoncé in a really cool pose. Why didn't they use this photo as the album art? Just crop in on the face and I believe you have a better album art as opposed to the queen airing her armpits. The consolidating thing is at least the regular version looks slightly better... Google it!

The second disc looks pretty much like Disc 1 and while blogging, I'm actually listening to the remixes and they actually sound quite good! Not those trashy kind that goes on and on without people singing - hate those remixes! And of course, there's Miss Thang in a fur coat that reminds of me a shrub (oops) with that "Whatcha want?" attitude. FIERCE!!

Well, it's typical for American albums not to have lyrics inside (Adele's one is not forgiven though!! >:( ) because I have no idea why but at least the inside looks pretty neat. Why isn't this photo used as the cover?! It's so stunning! Think this album is the literal meaning of "Beauty lines within" because I say almost every photo inside the booklet trashes the album art's one.

Chun Li inspired hair? Anyway, this is the second single from this album and I think it's not bad~ I must say that the photographer of the photos in this booklet, Ellen Von Unwerth, is really good! All the photos speak for themselves and of course, due credit to the model as well because she rocked every shot!

One of my favorite shots in the entire booklet, also shot by Ellen, and again, I wonder why this wasn't used as the cover. Well I hope this would be used for a single or something to do some justice to these awesome photographs. This shot kinda reminds me of ayu's INSPIRE outfit in her PV - the Thai inspired headgear and golds.

Overall, I say the packaging of "4" is up and down. It throws you with a mediocre, or even below average album art, but rescues everything with the fantastic songs which I have yet to finish listening to and even more spectacular photographs inside the album. Maybe nowadays, the tactic is to attract people using not-so-nice covers and rewarding them with something so much better on the inside.

That concludes this post. Hopefully my copy of ayumi hamasaki's "FIVE" will arrive soon so I can give myself an excuse to get even more CDs. :P Till then!!

Adele - 21

2011-08-21T12:20:00.001+08:00

June 9, 2011 - that's almost 2 months ago and that was the last time I actually blogged about CDs! In other words, I've been restricting myself from shopping for CDs for over a month! How 'bout that?! Come to think of it... How is it even possible?!

Maybe because there aren't anything interesting releases or any releases that interests me, yet...

But anyway~ Here I am shopping for music once more because I'm worth it!!

Before I continue though, I'll show you something...

These may look like antiques nowadays because come on~ Who honestly buys UMD to play with their jail broken PSP? Don't tell me yours isn't jail broken but if it's honestly not, I salute you! These UMDs had been on my shelf since my polytechnic days and honestly, the only game I've completed was "Marvel Ultimate Alliance".

Considering that I no longer play with my PSP because there are no interesting releases on it (I think the Nintendo platform is so much more fun because we have, that's right - POKEMON!!), I decided to sell these PSP games to Qisahn - local game store with, I dare say, the cheapest prices on this overly sunny and humid island.

On top of that, I needed some "funds" (I'm not as broke but you know, who would complain if you had more money right?) for music! So goodbye games and hello MUSIC!! In case you want to know, I got S$19 for selling these marvelous games. Not too much but better than nothing. Actually, I was expecting more though... Oh well~

Well, back to what this post's originally for - Adele's second album - "21"!!

Released in the United States back in February 22, 2011 (Oops~ That's like ages ago~), this album charted multiple charts worldwide and by August, she had already sold over 10 MILLION copies of this masterpiece worldwide! And yes~ Before I forget, I shall introduce you to my mini easel which will appear more frequently in my CD shoots now because it makes my life so much easier!

If you were going like "Shame on you for not realizing this talent earlier", then I'm guilty as charged because even though I've heard her fantastic voice over the radios and CD shops and was that tempted to get the album, I was a little turned off by the cover art because it struck me as uninteresting. Don't be shooting me because it's my most honest opinion.

Furthermore, I only heard snippets of her songs and therefore, couldn't really judge if the album is worth my money but considering that people like J J Lin's (local Pop singer) and Britney Spears' (renown Queen of Pop) confirmation, I deem this as a pretty good buy.

But I haven't actually heard the songs in it yet except for the lead single - "Rolling in the Deep" which is AMAZING I must say.

The back of the album with the track list. This photo reminds me of Lady Gaga in her "THE FAME MONSTER" EP because of the color scheme and because Adele does look like Gaga without make up. And yes~ I must say that Adele's damn good at working her camera angles because she's a plus sized person in reality but in photos, she look like a model! Good good!!

When you open up the jewel case, you see this lime green CD against a black background. Hmmm... Nothing really interesting about the CD though. In fact, I have to say that this album has one of the most uninspiring designs I've ever seen. Good thing Adele's a real talent with her voice, making people buy her albums based on her portfolio than packaging because otherwise, I dare say this album wouldn't sell just judging on the lackluster packaging.

I wasn't kidding about the black - BAMM!! Full darkness inside!

The black monster is rescued by some really interesting portraits of Adele at work - writing her music and performing in the studio. But here's my biggest complaint - this album is such a masterpiece with fantastic country songs with beautiful lyrics but...

WHY HASN'T THE BOOKLET FEATURED THE LYRICS?!

One of the reason people open to see what's inside the booklet is to appreciate the wonderful words used in the songs and, of course, the pictures, but considering that this album sold millions and millions of copies, why didn't they put in the lyrics which is one of the main selling points of this magnum opus?!

Therefore, I conclude that this is probably the most frustrating album packaging and design I've ever seen because it disappoints me to no ends. At least I can seek comfort in Adele's stunning voice...

I have to say though, that the pictures are pretty good and it captures the mood of the album aesthetically. If only there were lyrics!!

Adele's "21" wins hands down in terms of the music and everything audible but in terms of visuals, please do me a favor and get someone who actually looks more into the aesthetic to design it! There's a difference between simplistic and almost nothing at all (where are my freakin' lyrics?!) and this album sits on the line. The photos are stunning and well taken but the way it's presented seems like the person took no effort to bother making Adele look even better than she deserves.

I hope that the sales and platinums that this album is awarded gives the designer some pressure to produce better works in terms of the design so that it compliments with the great songs within this album. Overall, I say this album is best to be listened than to be seen...

But after all, aren't all albums supposed to be in that way?? :)

SUPER BELATED POST - Happenings so far...

2011-08-14T01:20:00.001+08:00

Well you can't really blame a busy man who has to be stuck in camp for 5/7 of his week doing things that probably wouldn't make a difference to his life for posting this SUPER BELATED POST right right?

Furthermore, the frequency of me coming back home is getting lower and lower as I seek comfort in my second home that's only 2 MRT stops away from my camp - talk about convenience, no?

Anyway, to keep y'all updated (as well as to keep dust level to the minimal in this blog which viewership ain't increasing), I shall blog about my previous weekends. Hey~ Though I may be busy but I still have a life okay? This also shows that I don't really sit in front of my laptop the whole day, wasting precious youth away.

OKAY! Let's start with...

Ain's 21st Birthday @ HOGWARTS!!

July 23, 2011

If you have been diligently looking through my Facebook photo albums (CLICK HERE!!), you would have known that the theme of Ain's 21st birthday is "Harry Potter". Honestly, I'm not a fan of Harry Potter and therefore, I had no clue what was what at the party. E.g. the different factions? Are they even called factions? But nevertheless, I felt included in the party and it was loads of fun even though I couldn't catch the theme! It was indeed, magical.

So, if you did look through the album, Ain decorated her house with lots of Harry Potter-inspired elements such as the Hogwarts school crest, candy jars with the different factions' emblem on it, books, movies and even a small fireplace made of cardboard! Extremely cool!! Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I can't post all the photos in this entry so please rely on the Facebook album, yes?

The birthday girl cutting her cake. Did I mention that even the birthday girl was very into character on her themed party? Dressed in a "school uniform" with a robe and a witch's hat accompanied with her magic wand, she transformed into the top student of her own party! The guests were also given "Report card" as thank you messages at the end of the party - she really looked into the details, didn't she?

After the actual party, these bunch of awesome people (myself included, of course), stayed back to "sabotage" the top student of Hogwarts through games and tricks. We played Indian Poker and cleared like a dozen of really disgusting sparkling water (you have no idea how disgusting the water tasted!!) and made her dig her nose through buns topped with cream and chocolate sauce for parts of her present.

We also watched her unwrap most of her gifts - like the sewing machine that we all got for her. Who would have guessed right? Especially when it was inside a huge cardboard box with "Huggies Diapers" printed on it - deceiving!!

And of course, we took tons of Instax photos depicting the process of us, evil friends, "torturing" the birthday girl. Overall, it's one of the best themed parties that I've attended so far in my life because everything was looked into - the setting and decoration, the costume, the door gifts, the entertainment, etc. Extremely magical~

Javen's 1st Birthday

July 31, 2011

I'm pretty sure my baby nephew's birthday didn't fall on July 31 so I guessed it should be an early celebration. Right after Alvin's 21st birthday (Well well, I didn't miss it out of this post on purpose - check the future updates for the whole event because I planned it!!), I rushed down to Downtown East to meet up with my siblings for the celebration.

Anyway, AIN'T THE CAKE ADORABLE?! I think this is like the cutest cake I've seen in decades - the last one probably when my age was below 5 years old? The little tiger represents my nephew's Chinese zodiac. I certainly hope that he would grow up to be strong like a tiger but personality wise, please be a good boy, yes?

My cousin, her husband and my two little nephews who I sadly see only once in awhile. Having nephews really make me feel so old, though there are still people who thinks that I look like 17 years old (YES!! Happy like hell~) Photographing children is extremely challenging, as you can see, because they will look everywhere BUT your camera. But that also reveals their innocence and free spirits...

My nephew has stunning eyes, no? Just like me~ :D I think he'll definitely grow up to become an extremely photogenic child because of his big eyes and adorable cheeks. I still remember the time where I took a photo of him during Chinese New Year - one of my favorite shots of babies! Kinda forgot why I snapped this photo but I couldn't help it because he's so cute~~

Something special about this baby's birthday is that my aunt actually "catered" my sister and her boyfriend to set up their crepe "stall" within the chalet to make crepes for all the guests and I must say business was fantastic! The crowd came and crepes were flying off the pan like the Changi Airport - maybe even more rapidly~ New flavors, like the cheese and ham, were discovered and it was really delicious!

So, if you are considering something special for your party, you can approach my sister or her boyfriend to request for their crepe catering service! Or you can go through me and I'll make sure I get a commission for that. :D

Platoon Cohesion

August 1, 2011

Finally, something more recent - my platoon cohesion at one of the specialist's condominium. It was a typical barbecue by the pool but it was very fun because I got to take lots of photos of people that haven't been photographed by me before - like Kenneth and Jun Sheng in this hopefully award-winning shot above. Loving the chemistry between the both of them!

Before the actual event though, some of us went to nex to get some of the barbecue items. Aaron went to pluck his teeth and he couldn't eat solid foods so we had to get things like jelly for him but unfortunately, someone else ate them. Oh well~

The spread for the event were the normal things like chicken wings, crab sticks, sausages, marshmallows and other predictable stuff. But what's special about the barbecue though is that there are things like kebabs (chicken with capsicum and peppers) and a really tasty pasta salad (macaroni with cream, raisins and pineapple chunks!) Love the pasta salad a lot~

For events like this, it isn't the food that makes the event rocks. It's the people! Well, at least the kind ones like Jun Sheng and Aaron here who didn't try to throw me into the pool like some other evil guys. Just so you know, almost everyone got thrown into the pool but my camera granted me immunity because I refused to let it go. And that the bitchy residents and anal security guards came over constantly to complain about our noise level which honestly wasn't really high. On top of that, it was only 8pm!!

When the sky got dark, the real challenge of taking photos begin when the lighting was horrible. Even with flash, I couldn't get proper shots but who cares because the models rock! This bunch of smiling people apparently love being thrown into the pool. :P

One of the main reasons for this cohesion is to celebrate the birthdays of some of my platoon mates, as well as to see some of the people who have got through 2 years of excruciating "pain" gain their freedom again. Got the cake from Yi Hui's father's bakery - a blueberry cake that looks really gorgeous but the taste is slightly mediocre. But anyway, the cake is just a symbol, yes? But it would be so much better if the symbol is tasty, no? :P

Well, that's all I have for tonight. Hope I managed to brush off some dirt of this blog and to get my viewership going up again. I also hope that my next weekend would be as free as this one so I can really sit down and work on the next blog entry to bring you more stuff that probably wouldn't make a difference to your life. :)

Stay tuned, y'all!! :)

inactivity

2011-08-06T22:43:00.000+08:00

Hello y'all! Do you miss me?

Anyway, these weekends had been really really busy for me because I had parties to attend to, photos to edit, pictures to take, cohesion to go to, guard duty to do (unfortunately) and more so I haven't really got the time to come here and blog but reassured I will do my best to keep this place active again!

Maybe next weekend...

In the mean time, please wait patiently for my grand return, yes?

But if you are the impatient sort, you can always follow me on Twitter to hear my daily rants or if you want more pictures, look at my Facebook photo albums! It has almost all the recent events' photos updated there!

Well, see you when I see you!!

Crepezee Crepe @ Singapore Food Festival

2011-07-17T15:01:00.001+08:00

From my previous blog entry, you would have learnt that my sister and her boyfriend (Vera & Aik Hin) had set up a booth at Clarke Quay by the Singapore river for the Singapore Food Festival, selling their home made crepes! This is the first time they are selling the crepes so do go down to support them~ I did yesterday and I took photos of them in action so I shall promote for them here!

See~ I very kind one okay?

Located outside The Central, a long stretch of booths selling a variety of food stands by Singapore's iconic river. Well, if you have difficulties locating where Crepezee Crepe is, it's just right in front of this huge orange "Central" word because I took the photo there. Convenient, no?

And this is their humble menu. I personally find that it's a little hard to understand because the design is a little all over the place but with a little explanation from the friendly helpers there (either my siblings or Aik Hin plus his own siblings), you will understand how to order your crepe.

Well, I shall explain how ordering works here in case you want to get your orders faster when you head down to support them young people. First of all, you select your crepe's flavor. Pick from the original recipe (also known as plain), strawberry or pandan. Then, select your spread of Nutella, chocolate sauce, strawberry or caramel. Top it up with a topping of your choice - either almonds, pumpkin seeds, crushed Oreo cookies, rainbow cereals or sugar. This will cost you S$3.00.

If you want to make your crepe even more delightful, you can top up an additional $1.20 for a scoop of ice cream (pick from mint, chocolate, raspberry or cookies and cream) or an additional $1.20 for something healthier - fruits (pick from strawberries, mango, and I forgot... :P)

They also have this Savory Crepe which features tuna or salmon if you are feeling daring.

Understand how to order now? :)

Vera proudly presenting to you Crepezee Crepe!

Like I've said previously, this stall is man by teenagers whose ages range from 17 - 20 years old so they are really young people so don't be bullin' them! Furthermore, this is no school project because Aik Hin decided to rent this space for himself to sell his creations and prior to this, he practiced day and night to perfect his skills of making the excellent crepe. Really daring teenager, no? To set up a stall for real isn't simple, you know...

And of course, Vera goes down almost daily to help out because one person manning the store is definitely not enough. Leon also goes down occasionally to help prepare the crepes for the customers as well.

Vera scooping out the correct portion of batter for the crepe. It's a little hard to imagine that Vera can actually make crepes because she can't even cook instant noodles to save her life... Just sayin'~ At least she can make something edible though. :)

I supported them by getting a pandan crepe and this is Vera spreading the batter on the crepe hot pan skillfully using the wooden thingie.

Flipping the crepe over isn't as simple as it seems but Vera managed to do it anyway. And remember! She can't cook instant noodles!! By the way, you can request for your crepe to be soft or crispy. I like it crispy because it adds texture to the dessert but it's up to your personal preference. The soft one is really chewy and fun to have too~

When the crepe is prepared, Leon helps by dressing up the thin skin by applying your favorite spreads and toppings. I think Nutella is the best selling spread so far because out of 10 customers that I noticed patronizing, 7 - 8 would pick the Nutella.

Disclaimer: The photos in this post are not arranged in chronological order. I'm using this photo to demonstrate the process of crepe making. After the spread is done, Leon will top your crepe with ice cream (if you're willing to pay more but it's definitely worth it!!) and toppings. After that, he will roll it up and present it to you like a bouquet of sweetness.

This is what I had - Pandan crepe with Nutella spread topped with almond flakes and a scoop of mint ice cream! Yummy! The crepe is crispy and the crushy almonds add texture to the whole dessert and the mint ice cream cools your mouth and gives the whole thing the creamy finish~ Really delicious! I highly recommend everyone to try the ice cream crepe as opposed to the ones just with the toppings! It's worth the additional $1.20!

The master/boss preparing the crepe. Normally, Aik Hin is the one preparing the crepe skin because he's the most skillful at it. Unless he's in the loo or that Vera wants to impress some people (like myself), he would normally be assuming control of the crepe pan and wood thingie. :)

Because the crepe is so thin and delicate, extreme care has to be exercised to make sure that it keeps its shape and flipping it isn't easy, especially when the stall is located just beside the river and the breeze will mess the crepe up. There had been cases that the crepes were blown away but I believe they will get better through these experiences.

Some close ups of the preparation process and recap on how to order your crepe. First, the flavor of the crepe. Second, the spread...

Next, the toppings...

And lastly, that fabulous ice cream!!

Some of the toppings... Inspired by frozen yoghurt, I suppose.

Vera rolling the crepe into this hand made paper cone.

Well I was fortunate to be able to capture some portraits of people enjoying the crepe while I was there yesterday. This is Yi Hui enjoying her strawberry crepe with ice cream~

Alvin's friend who I only know him as Machamp also enjoying his strawberry crepe with ice cream. So happened to bump into him and just had to introduce him to the fantastic crepes. :D

And of course, Nick digging into his pandan crepe with raspberry ice cream. This is probably the most unglam way of eating the crepe but hey~ It's up to you how you want to have it!!

This is how the crowd was like yesterday and I hope that the crowd will continue to grow today as well~ :)

And the final photo of this entry - Doraemon hand soap that they use to keep their hands germ free while preparing their crepe. They may be young but they sure know about personal hygiene when it comes to food preparation so you can be assured that you get clean and tasty sweets from them!

I hope that this entry will make you feel like going down to support them! :D That's the whole purpose of this post. In case you want to know more about their crepe, you can visit their Facebook page here. In case you're lazy, I shall just write some of the essential things that you should know~

Time:

July 15 - July 24

Operating Hours:

Weekdays - 4:00pm to 11:00pm
Weekends - 12:00pm to 11:00pm
Well, they need to attend school too, you know?

Menu:

Crepes!! With toppings, ice cream or fruits - your pick!

But I will highly recommend the ice cream ones because it rocks!

Pricing:

Ranges from $3.00 to $4.20 - depending on what you're having.

Well that's all I have for now! Shall head down to NEX to get Maomao's kitty litter and something else. :) Remember to go down to Clarke Quay to support Crepezee Crepe when y'all get the chance, yes? :) You won't regret it!

Carnivore Brazilian Churrascaria & Oasia Buffet

2011-07-17T14:09:00.000+08:00

Hello y'all! Did you miss me (or specifically, my rants on this blog?) I hope you did~

Well recently, my weekends are constantly being burnt because of you-know-which-evil-organization that doesn't believe in letting people rest on weekends. So much for 5 days work week right? Oh well, at least the rest of the month's weekends are free - or at least I hope they stay that way.

Anyway, yesterday, I went to Vivo City to have lunch at "Carnivore"! Heard that they are quite well known for their roasted meats and that the experience is really unique so I decided to bring Alvin there for his birthday treat. Another reason is because he's pretty much a carnivore too. :)

And as always, loads of pictures... Feast your eyes!! (pun intended)

Located on the first storey of Vivo City, Carnivore sits in a pretty isolated place from the bustling shopping center and therefore, you can be promised that peaceful dining experience. Well, probably not that peaceful when it's a weekend plus the restaurant's Brazilian music but it's still acceptable. Oh yes~ Carnivore's like an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant and they really challenge you (or just me?) to eat all you can! Obviously, I KO-ed pretty fast. I'm not born for buffets...

When you enter the restaurant, you are greeted with a small salad bar filled with an assorted selections of fruits, soup, salads, pasta and other random but nice looking food. Well decorated, no?

Yesterday beetroots are on the menu and I still remember the days when I was in US and my friends would constantly spam beetroots at the salad bar because to him, it's heavenly but to me, it just looks scary. I don't really like food in weird colors but if you like something sweet, beetroots are for you. They also have colesaw, this green pea salad (not my favorite kind of green pea though) and pasta salads. Quite nice~

Honestly, when you stay at the restaurant long enough, you'll realize that the selection isn't that huge but I guess it's acceptable. So far, the best buffet I ever had was in US because the selection is MASSIVE! No Singapore buffet actually matched that huge variety yet but again, Asians are not made for buffets, right? See those greens? I think I ate a lot of those... :P

Now in case you're wondering "WHERE THE HELL IS THE MEAT?", calm your inner lion down. The meats are not served on the buffet table. When we got our seat, the staff gave us these round cards to place at the edge of the table to indicate if we want their staff to bring us any meat or not. So if you want meat, show them the green side and if you need a break from the oily goodness, show them the red side. Yes, the discs are 2-sided.

One of the disadvantage of this system is that you have to keep an eye on what the staff is bringing out on this huge skewer. The photo above's a bit dark but I'll show you a better photo later. So while having your meal, you need to open your eyes huge to target at the meat you want - almost like playing a game if you asked me. But if you want to try every single thing, show them the green card and be assured that they will definitely serve you.

Broy's tip on a healthier buffet - start with the salads! At least that's what my bestest friend and I did when we entered the restaurant. My logic is that you have the salad first so you have something in your stomach and you won't tend to overeat. Actually, it kinda failed because I overate eventually because I had 2 buffets in a day but that's for later in this post. Some of my friends actually call me stupid because I like to eat all the cheaper food at the buffet and some even said if they open a buffet restaurant, they would love customers like me. Evil~

Roasted pineapples! Apparently, their roasted pineapples are what attract people to this restaurant. This fruit dish may be simple but it's really sweet and juicy~ Really refreshing! Best to have it when you're almost done with your meal because it helps to refresh your mouth a little from all the meat. This is my favorite photo of the day, by the way.

In case you haven't realized, photos in this entry aren't placed in chronological order. This is what I had first - salad with sausages. Of course, you get to mix and match what you want in your salad so this is how I did it.

Tip: If you want to dine at Carnivore and you are on a budget, say no if they offer you iced tea or anything else other than plain water because this glass of normal tasting tea costed me S$6!! Perverted no?! Guess the restaurant stuck to All-You-Can-Eat as opposed to All-You-Can-Drink. So misleading! At least tell the customers that you have to pay separately lah~

Round 2 of salad... :P

The meats. They serve an array of different roasted goodies but a lot of them are really greasy and fatty. Honestly, I wouldn't say they are the best because they are so oily they kinda hinder your ability to taste, making a lot of the stuff taste very similar. The sausages are nice though, probably because it's seasoned differently. Just by looking at the shininess on the sausage and plate is enough to tell you how fattening this meal was.

Lamb, chicken, fish, beef, etc~ The first few slices of these taste quite okay but the more you eat, the scarier it becomes because it's so overwhelming! Even carnivorous Alvin said it's a bit scary, let alone the person who eats more veggies than meat - ME! But if you really love your meats, then go for it!

Well in terms of the pricing, I would say that Carnivore isn't something that you want to have every weekend because during weekends, it costs around S$33+ per person, not inclusive of the drinks which shouldn't be very economical-friendly. Think it's only meant for a once in a blue moon treat or just a once in a lifetime experience.

In terms of service, I would say that the staff are extremely friendly and careful with their knives and skewers. They serve generous portions as well. Unfortunately, the food is mediocre because of all the oil and fat that numbs your taste buds, making everything taste the same. Guess I won't be going back there in the near future... Gosh the calories... :(

Now, let's take a break from all the oil and look at something that's much lusher and green. This banana tree is located just outside Swissotel: Merchant Court. After having lunch at Carnivore, I went to visit Vera and Aik Hin at their crepe stall by the Singapore River (will feature this in another post!). Stayed around for awhile before heading to my father's van to head off to yet another buffet. Saw this banana tree and took a picture of it~ :P

If you followed me on Twitter, you would have seen that I tweeted something like "So full I can die". Yes!! Imagine a small eater like me having buffets twice in a row consecutively! My stomach didn't even have the time to digest those greasy food and I'm thrown into another challenge.

Anyway, dinner was at this new restaurant just beside Tan Tock Seng Hospital - Oasia Hotel. Really cool looking hotel with excellent interior design. My sister bought these coupons which allowed us to eat at this buffet for S$19.90 each! Cool~ Original price is like 50 something if I'm not mistaken.

Photo above is what I started off with - salad again. I was extremely bloated even during dinner and I can't just waste the money and go to the restaurant just to sit there and look cute right? So I attempted to stuff more food down my throat and since veggies are easier to swallow, I took these. Plus salmon, of course. :D

Due to the fact that I was so bloated, I didn't really want to move around to take photos of food (In fact, when I saw food, I was a little terrorized~) so I just took some at the table. This buffet serves lots of great food though. Cheese, bread, Chinese food, salads, desserts, roasted meat (again), fruits, etc. In fact, I think this buffet is quite healthy with the selection of fruits and vegetables being so attractive. They even have a bar specially for sashimi and you can get the chef to prepare this gorgeous sashimi spread for you. The wasabi leaves look like play-dough, no? :P

Like they always say, there's always room for dessert and obviously, I did stuff my face with some of these sweet goodies. The desserts are marvelous and they actually made me slightly more comfortable because it reminds me of the taste of sweetness as opposed to grease and oil and fats. Ugh! Highly recommend the chocolate mousse in the small glass because it's made of dark chocolate but it isn't disgustingly bitter. The mango agar agar in the tall glass is also a treat! Noticed I took 2 of everything? I shared it with Vera so yes... I'm not that greedy.

They also serve lots of tropical fruits like rambutans and mangosteens. Too bad I didn't get a chance to grab the mangosteen because this greedy uncle Orang Utan took them all! :( They also serve apples, oranges, bananas, strawberries (yes!!), grapes, etc. Vera thought that the bowl of fruits at the salad bar was just for decoration but I proved her wrong when I went to take the strawberries. First buffet I've ever been to which serve fresh fruits! Thumbs up!!

Notice the crackers and cheese on the plate? This is also the first buffet that I've seen to serve a selection of cheese, including those cartoon Swiss cheese with holes, with a variety of breads and crackers. Interesting spread, no? I tried the cheese with crackers and it rocks~ Really interesting~

Vera's mini-salad which she had after having her meats. Come to think of it, I only had a few slices of salmon, some lamb because it was served with a salad and some chicken because I was so sick of meat during dinner.

Leon and his dessert which I think he ate all by himself. Fatty...

Vera enjoying her chocolate mousse. I want another one!!

I would recommend this buffet over the Carnivore one simply because it's so much healthier and probably cheaper? At least you get to try something else other than non-stop meat. The Oasia buffet is also the first that I've seen to focus so much on fruits and vegetables to encourage people to take more fiber than protein and I say it's a huge thumbs up! Call me a health freak, I don't care but I rather get sick of eating veggies than meat because veggies don't make people fat.

After dinner, we walked around the hotel to check out the swimming pool which I did take a picture of but the photo is so dark and uninteresting so I'm not going to upload it. But I did take a photo of this really scary person...

Nick stood above the light shining from the floor and because it was so dark there, it cast lots of interesting shadows on his chubby body and face. His cheeks are so huge that it cast a shadow over his eyes~ Scary!! Looks like some Japanese ghost~ He should audition for Ju-On next time~

Being the evil eldest brother that I am, throughout dinner, I had been trying to take photos of Nick's big tummy and I finally got a chance to do so when I caught him unguarded in the elevator. His stomach's so huge!! :P

Well that's the end of this entry. Maybe I shall start working on the next entry featuring Crepezee Crepe, Aik Hin's and Vera's crepe store at the Singapore Food Festival starting from July 15 - July 24. Do go down to support them. Information at their Facebook event page above!!

Fun Pack Song?

2011-07-08T22:51:00.001+08:00

National Day Parade's "Fun Pack Song" to the tune of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"?

OH PUH-LEASE!!
Don't make Baby Gaga laugh!!

Well isn't this musical disaster?! Okay, let's ignore the part about them flaunting copyright regulations by using Lady Gaga's tune but the lyrics?

"Oh o o o o o o o
Time for the fun pack song
Oh o o o o o o o o
We like the fun pack song"

"I want Newater and I want a cold drink
You and me, let's share a bit
I want a biscuit and I want a sweet
You and me, let's share this treat"

Looks like Rebecca Black found her match for her infamous "Friday". Wait, I think Friday has slightly more educational and intellectual value as compared to this nonsense. It can be written in any other tunes but the lyrics itself is so......

"Oh boy you made me speechless~~"
- Lady Gaga's "Speechless"

Why can't the creative directors actually find something better to do than to make weird songs like this? I know the purpose of this song is to introduce the fun pack (you know, the goodie bag that attracts all the patriotic, or not, people to the NDP) but this is a bit insane. Can't you do something like have a celebrity introduce the things physically through probably a skit? A cartoon animation - like the things inside the bag comes to life on the big screen?

But actually, people will dig through the bags and find out what's inside. You don't have to tell them that there are biscuits and sweets because they will find it! You don't have to tell them to wave the flag because they know what to do with the flag! Don't treat us like we're stupid please~

Therefore, I think the song is irrelevant and unnecessary but good thing they decided to remove it from the actual parade. Thank goodness Mr President didn't see it live but I doubt they can keep this hiccup away from him - he isn't disconnected from the country, you know. But at least he won't be embarrassed and go like "What the hell is going on with my country? The language is atrocious, as proven by this so-called 'song'!!"

Back to the point of copyright infringement. I'm really sick of having to explain to people how important copyright is because recently, I've been mocked at for buying original CDs and games. I've been told that I cannot download physical things, specifically camera lenses, but I can download music and games.

COME ON BITCH!! I can do whatever I want with my money and support all the original stuff I want because I'm not a cheapo like you! I support the great works of music creators, game designers, programmers, artists and artistes and the likes, unlike you who just rip off their stuff for free! CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!

YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!

Okay, personal rants aside, but I think the creative director made a boo-boo by obtaining the wrong rights. They obtained the rights to perform the song in public but not change the lyrics and that's why they removed the song - sadly not because it sounded retarded but that's good anyway.

And of course, the community online ain't happy with the bad song and they are coming down hard on the people who decided on the lyrics and concept. Honestly, I only got to know about this today but since I haven't been blogging for awhile, I shall just talk about it here. :P Gives me something to talk about.

Point is, Singaporeans should be more sensitive when it comes to intellectual properties. I mean, we, design students (or EX-design students) know how difficult it is to make a creative idea materialize into reality and we definitely would love the credit for it and for people to PAY for our hard work. I believe that given the prior knowledge, the creative director would have tried to obtain the rights for editing the lyrics but sadly, it's too late. At least they seek permission for performance of the song...

But the lyrics are still unforgivable!!

So let's get on with life and remember that this happened before and will never happen again to embarrass the nation - especially when Lady Gaga's in Singapore (big face palm!!)

Guard duty tomorrow on a weekend. That sucks... Shall go to bed in my second home. :D Gooder night y'all!!

Pink Dot

2011-06-25T21:34:00.002+08:00

First and foremost, I'm sick right now, with a temperature running at 37.9°C and I have a plastic bag filled with tissue soaked in my mucus and therefore, forgive me if I write in glibberish because I can't really think straight (Wait! No pun intended!!). I almost spelled "think" as "thick" just now so it means something...

Anyway, last Saturday, I went to Pink Dot at Hong Lim Park!!

This is my first time heading down to Hong Lim Park and it's actually the Speaker's Corner as well. In case you don't know, the Speaker's Corner in Singapore is the only legal place to gather a huge crowd to ~~wreak havoc~~, if you get what I mean. But you if you were to make comments, think through it thoroughly first because you know in Singapore, the wrong things might get you into trouble even though they are true, if you get what I mean again.

The Pink Dot event is a public event for Singaporeans and PRs (though foreigners were welcomed as well~) to stand up against discrimination against the LGBT community in conservative Singapore. Yes~ In this developed country, the old men and old women still think like, well, old morons and old hags. It's probably Singapore's only LGBT event yearly (correct me if I'm wrong) so I couldn't miss it since I'm such a human rights activist! Or so I self proclaim~

Surprisingly, the turn out was quite awesome! The entire park, or field, was covered in people wearing pink, holding pink balloons and picnicking away~ It made the humid and hot day worth the trouble because you see so many people supporting this meaningful event.

Unfortunately though, there was hardly anything to do down there because the stage was so far away so I couldn't watch what the hell was happening so I snapped lots of random shots throughout the day. They should set up a few stages around so that everyone feels involved because I didn't that day. But at least there were people giving free hugs but no thanks~ I don't like being touched...

This group of pink men brought a stool filled with sweets on top for their picnic! I was quite glad that there were older people participating in this event that I thought only young people like myself would give a damn. :) Shows that the nation is really growing more open~

There were obviously celebrities at the scene and this is just one of them that I managed to photograph - Abigail~ Did I get her name correct? Anyway, she represents the T of LGBT and she is fiercely strutting her stuff in her pink dress with what-are-those-pink-sparkling-things. I still remember watching her documentary on TV and her courage is embrace who she is is amazing~

And obviously, lots of people wants a piece of her.

Slight whiny photo - I wore my white shorts to the event and got my shorts stained in mud because I knelt on the ground for some photos. :(

And yes, before you think that I went emo that day and went alone, I didn't - Raven and Chenelle accompanied us there~

While the rest of the world were having their scrumptious picnic, we had Tako balls!! Courtesy of Chua Ying Ying! She specially dropped by Plaza Singapura just to get these for us. So kind~

Raven enjoying her tako balls but before that...

Remember to disinfect your hands with Dettol's disinfectant! Made her pose with the photo because she's been offering me the disinfectant to see if it helps to remove the mud off my shorts but sadly, it didn't. But oh well~ It's handy to have that in your bag, no?

A random shot of some guy with Post It stuck all over himself. Wonder what they say though...~ :P Yes, I'm that kaypo!! :P

Did you know that Pink Dot is mainly sponsored by Google, my best friend? :D Because Google is always the one generating traffic for this blog - as well as Lady Gaga because people are forever searching Her Highness. It's good to know that an international company is sponsoring an event like this~ :)

Chenelle posing with her Puma shoes with pink laces.

Anyway, the key highlight of the event is for every Singaporean who was wearing pink to form a gigantic dot in the middle of the field and an aerial photo will be taken. If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the camera that were used but I could be wrong because apparently, the crowd was instructed to face somewhere else instead of the balloons.

Finally~ The main event of the day that actually involves me not standing in my own corner taking paparazzi photos of other people - the formation of the dot! See the flags in the distance? The Dim Sum Dollies, Singapore's own musical divas, stood on that stage to get people to surround them to form the huge dot. Everyone moved towards the stage and it was really crowded and squeezy but nevertheless, fun~

While the rest were gathering to form the dot, Raven went to the free drinks station to get this plastic glass of punch. Tastes okay but the glass' yours to keep! So sweet of them! And it's no coincidence that the drink is pink. :)

And DGDD peeps! Look who walked into my frame when I was about to take a photo of yet another group of random photos - it's David! He was our character design/drawing lecturer when we were in Year 1 and I remember the perverted lessons because they ended on 10pm on Monday nights! Really tiring~ Still remember those long bus rides I had to take from Clementi to get home from his lessons...

And apparently, he's one of the helpers for the event because he was shouting through this megaphone to get everyone to move towards the stage to form the dot. The words on the megaphone reads "Slide Operator" and I have no clue what that means though.

Everyone was instructed to wave at the camera which was relocated on top of some hotel and I took this photo where everyone was waving their pink stuff in the air like crazy~

After the photo was shot, everyone released their pink balloons into the air and my god it was such a sight! The whole sky was filled with pink dots and it was really magnificent. Too bad the sky was overcast that day and a lot of photos didn't turn out as nice. This is about the only one that I thought was slightly more presentable.

If I don't tell you that the dots are balloons, would you know? :)

Last Saturday was the second time I actually got a chance to use my Fujifilm Instax camera but unfortunately, I was only left with 3 frames and so, I took photos of Chenelle and Raven because they were nice enough to invite us to this event. I'm such a marvelous photographer, no? :P

And the last shot was saved for us - with Chua Ying Ying being the photographer! :)

Nearing the end, Raven's friend joined us and I offered to take a group shot of them. Presenting to you the Uniqlo staff!! If you see them in the boutique, be sure to say hi because they are really awesome people!

I didn't realize that the park is so close to Clarke Quay MRT station and to think that we walked from Chinatown MRT station! Wasted!! But at least we managed to burn some calories... This is how the place looks like after the event - apparently, a lot of people were still reluctant to go home and decided to just hang around.

After having dinner at Burger King, we went to the Singapore River to just sit around and chill while eating that $1 ice cream. Good thing I brought my tripod for this night shot.

Took a photo of the scary ride across the Singapore River that left a blue trail behind. I don't think I will ever have the courage to get on top of one of these rides because it's so high and scary!! :S

And another photo of Chenelle and Raven. Honestly, have any one of y'all thought what would happen if someone falls into the Singapore River because you know, so many people like to sit by the river bank and yet, there are no safety barriers no nothing but people aren't afraid? Besides, I had never heard of any cases of people falling into the river as well~

Oh yes!! Before I end, I have to say that this year, Pink Dot attracted more than 10,000 people to the event as compared to the 4,000 last year! Here's the comparison of the "dot".

Source: http://pinkdot.sg

The dot in year 2010... Well at least you can see that it's a dot, right?

Source: http://pinkdot.sg

Woa~lah~~ The "dot" in year 2011!! Well, I wouldn't even call this a dot already. It looks like a huge pink mess but this mess is the prettiest one ever because it shows that Singaporeans are starting to be more open minded with others as well as themselves! Cool, no?

Did you know that I even heard that the location for next year's event might even change simply because this year's turn out was so good? Maybe the Marina Barrage or some other bigger field to accommodate more than 10,000 people! In case you're wondering where I was during that day, I'm hidden by the trees on the bottom left if I'm not mistaken because it was just way too crowded!! :P

Okay~ End of this really pink entry but unfortunately, I can't say the same to my health right now because I'm still having the sniffles and the fever is still haunting me. I hope I can recover by tomorrow then I can start "work" on Monday.

Oh well... Off to shower!! :)

Monopoly Deal - Why won't people believe me!

2011-06-18T12:32:00.002+08:00

DISCLAIMER: Slightly wordy post with lots of my game design experience rampage.

I bet y'all had played this awesome 90% luck-based game called Monopoly Deal by the Parker Brothers, no? Well, if you live in a cave, it looks like this...

Source: Hasbro's Official Website (http://www.hasbro.com)

Some brief information about this game. This game is a quick card game which can be played up to 6 players but honestly, you wouldn't want too many players playing at once because it takes forever to complete the game. And as the name suggests, this is the card game version of the classic board game "Monopoly". So basically, you have to get 3 sets of property cards to win. Something like this...

Source: Also from Hasbro's website - convenience!! (http://www.hasbro.com)

Yeap. That's how you win. Brief introduction shall end here.

The reason why I'm writing this entry is because there are many different ways to play this game apparently and while in camp, I realized that they are playing it from a different way that I play it. Well, fine by me because in board games history, there are lots of players who do not really follow the rules and they play their own "home rules".

For instance in the traditional Monopoly board game - you do not get anything when you land on the "Free Parking" slot right? But some home rules allow you to put money collected from the community chests, chances, etc at that slot and whoever lands there gets the money! Cool, no? But unfortunately, that's not how the rules stated it to be.

Back to the Deal card game. A lot of people in Singapore are playing by the rule whereby rearranging your property cards during your turn counts as a move. The purpose of this entry is to say boldly

"REARRANGING your cards during your turn DOES NOT count as a turn!!"

Yes! It only counts as a turn because you are playing it by your home rule! I have no idea who came up with this home rule because it kinda spoils the game (well, at least to me) but every time I try to explain to someone, no one believes me and that frustrates me.

You doubt a game design student?! Such atrocity!

If you still do not believe me, I shall show you evidence like the bitchy bullshit lawyer I am. :)

Firstly of all, let's look at the OFFICIAL rules.

I presume you know the other rules of Monopoly Deal but I want to bring your attention to this part of the rules. By the way, the official rule sheet can be downloaded online and this is where I extracted the rules from.

So, every player is given 3 turns to play with during their turn. They may either put money or action cards as cash in their own bank, place properties into their own collections or play action cards into the center. Or, the players may choose not to play up to 3 cards and save his cards for later.

Now, I want you to read the rules carefully and tell me which part of the rules suggest that rearranging your properties count as a turn. I dare say that none of the writings above states that. In fact, you can infer that it does not count as a turn. Let's examine...

"You can only reorganize your property collection on your turn. If you realize you've won during someone else's turn, you must wait until it's your turn to say it!"

Looking at the language, this line indeed did not state that rearranging your card counts as a turn, yes? And furthermore, recall which 3 actions count as a card being played?

1. Putting action cards / money into your cash pool

2. Putting property cards down into your collection
3. Playing action cards into the center

None of the moves indicate rearranging the card. Therefore, rearranging the cards during your turn does not count as a card being played FROM YOUR HAND. Read this...

"Play up to 3 cards from your hand, onto the table in front of you."

Considering that the property cards has to be on the table for you to rearrange it (duh!!), it technically does not come out from your hand and therefore, it does not count as a card being played. Yes~ It's all in the language - read the rules carefully!!

I can actually end my case here and DECLARE that rearranging your cards during your turn does not count into your 3 cards played but in case you're still skeptical over my ability to interpret simple rules, I have better evidence.

Q - CAN I REARRANGE MY PROPERTY CARDS DURING MY TURN?

A - Yes, you can. But only on your turn. Moving a Property card around between sets does not count as one of the three cards you can lay on each turn.

Extract taken from http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/faq.cfm

Hot from the Hasbro Monopoly Deal's FAQ. If you don't believe my interpretation, at least believe what the official source specifically said. Moving a property card during your turn does not count as one of the three cards you lay on each turn and therefore, you can freely shift your cards around as much as you like so long as you have not declared the end of your turn!

I REST MY CASE!! TAKE THAT!!

And to clarify the usage of the "Just Say No" card, the rule also specifically said that it does not count as a card being played no matter whether it's your turn or not. Yes, please download the official rules in case you've misplaced yours and read carefully! That's why the rules are there in the first place. Plus, the rules are pretty short so don't be lazy~

Still not convinced? Then I honestly have no idea how to enlighten you but I shall try to give you my interpretation on why the game can still be played using this official rules. Come on~ The game is designed in this way in the first place so it will definitely work. Many have told me that they played the "rearranging your property counts as a turn" rule because they said that if they are given the chance to freely rearrange their property cards, then the game will be unfair and will end quickly.

First of all, this game is supposed to be a quick game, not the draggy, traditional board game. Plus, why would it be unfair if all the players are doing it as well? If you refuse to rearrange your cards during your turn, then you are losing out!

My logic is that rearranging your cards freely creates another layer of depth to the game and makes the player play their cards to their maximum advantage. For instance, you can have a few wild cards and you can rearrange your properties to get the maximum rent and at the same time, defend yourself against the Deal Breaker card. Cool, no?

Then people will start to say that the Deal Breaker card would be useless. True to a certain extent but do you know that there are only 2 Deal Breaker cards and a few Sly Deal and Forced Deals? According to the rules, if your property set is full, the latter 2 cards are unable to penetrate those sets and therefore, no players can steal your card. But if you are so fearful of the Deal Breaker, collect the "Just Say No" or better still, rearrange your cards to your advantage and risk them being stolen via the Sly Deal and Forced Deals.

My logic= Deal Breaker may be painful when played against you but there are more Sly Deals and Forced Deals so are you willing to take that chance? Plus, if you are really fearful of the Deal Breaker card, you can always place it as cash and make the card obsolete for the rest of the game.

The game ending quickly... Not true! If everyone is smart enough to work the rearrangement of cards to their advantage, the game can be dragged to a pretty healthy/unhealthy (depending on whether you like long or short games) length. With everyone changing their arrangements, other players have to be more wary of their opponents moves and to think + plan more to penetrate their defenses. However, if make rearrangement of your cards count as a turn, the players will not be given a chance to plan their arrangements and therefore, you take away a crucial part of this already-luck-based game - strategy.

And I shall official end my lawsuit and rest my case for real here.

The reason why I'm so frustrated by people insisting that they are playing it correctly is because they misinterpreted the rules and still dare to tell me that they are playing it correctly. Well, another reason is because I'm so used to these rules and I'm unwilling and probably stubborn to adapt to other home rules that I just have to stand up and be a bitch to tell the whole wide world that they are playing it wrong.

But in games, I believe that most importantly, you have to have fun and that's that. You can bend the rules as much as possible since the game designer won't hunt you down and sit on you for not following his design because ultimately, I believe he wants you to have fun. So long as everyone's having fun in the game, no one would really care about how the game is played, yes? :)

Well, probably except me because I'm a free bitch but still...~~

Let's play the game the correct way, okay? :D

ayumi hamasaki - A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~ + Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour FINAL ~7 Days Special~

2011-06-09T23:36:00.000+08:00

Hello hello! It's been awhile since I've blogged because as y'all know, I've been really, really busy last weekend because of all the things that I had to do. Well, now that Kaka is back in Singapore, I can stop worrying about some stuff and continue to live life as per normal. :D Yes~ I think I'm extremely dependent on her already.

Anyway, it's a Thursday and I'm home tonight! I'm finally passed out as an operator! That means no more throwing me here and there and getting bossed around (well, this may not be true anyway since I'm still technically a man). By the way~ I got a plaque!! Photo's on Facebook because it's irrelevant to today's post.

Well, first up...

ayumi hamasaki - A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~

It's ayumi hamasaki's A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~ DVD!! This DVD set comes with 2 DVDs featuring all her singles performed LIVE during her tours. Well, other than her single "kanariya" which she did not performed live at all throughout her career - weird isn't it? This DVD set is to commemorate the release of her 50th single "L".

All 50 clips of her best live performances of her singles! This DVD was originally released alongside with ayu-mi-x 7 but due to the fact that Japan press DVDs are extremely expensive and that they are not compatible with my PS3, I had to wait until the Code 3 Hong Kong version is out before getting this one. It's so much cheaper and it comes with a free toy (which I will show you later on~)!

Surprisingly, this DVD set comes with a sticker! Love freebies!! But I wonder what this sticker can actually be used for though. Looks like something that you would stick behind your iPhone or something but I guess I will just slot this inside the box for keepsake purpose.

Due to the sheer amount of contents, this collection has to be split into 3 DVDs and here is a close up on some of the tracks. Basically, the songs featured are picked from all her major tours (arena tours, Asia tours, etc) and they are supposedly the best! Can't wait to watch this collection - when I can find the time...

How the inside look like - simple and clean.

The lyric booklet that are colored using the colors of the rainbow. Cool concept but sadly, it's all text and there are no photos at all. A little disappointing because I would love to see ayu pose in some costume or something for this DVD set but oh well~ Better than nothing right?

At least she put her personal touch at the end where she thanks her band members, dancers and (can't you just read from the photo?!) of course, me. :) And yeap~ Isn't her signature adorable!

Okay~ That's all I have for A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~... Now...~~

ayumi hamasaki - Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour FINAL
~7 Days Special~

Ta da!! Finally, the long awaited tour for her Rock 'n' Roll Circus album. This time, there are definitely more photos than the LIVE SELECTION DVD set so keep your eyes peeled. I've watched segments of the tour on Youtube and I must say, I'm really looking forward to watching this concert because it's so energetic and the stage design is awesome! "Microphone" was extremely well done!!

Well, unlike (miss)understood, My Story, ASIA TOUR 2010, this box is solid and opaque - no plastic, no transparency, no gimmicks. Just plain old cardboard holding the 2 DVD boxes inside. Weird design decision considering that the previous designs are so nice. Furthermore, I disagree a little with the front cover because ayu's background is a little distracting. Anyway, here's the back with the track list at the bottom. At least the logo's nice~

OH NO!! I missed out the photo of the second DVD covers! Oh well, please google it because I believe it's on the internet (somewhere) or wish that one fine day, I might decide to be a little bit more hardworking to go and take a picture of it because right now, I'm half-asleep and therefore, I shall not go back to the light box for more photos. This is how the inside looks like for the second DVD casing - 2 DVDs. One of which consists of the continuation of the first DVD (which is the main show) and the other one contains the special features like the MC segments, making offs and things like that.

And the long awaited lyric booklet has ayu's fierce face on the cover! Wow I've never seen her open her mouth this wide and angry before~ I've watched the opening segment on Youtube before and it was really fiery and fierce! Really brings out the whole mood of the "rock 'n' roll"!

"あなただから～"!! One of my favorite songs by ayu by far - "Microphone"! I can listen to it now and then and never get tired of it because it's so fierce and fantastic! Even the performance is good~ Loving her huge dress and energy on stage~ You should totally get this DVD to watch her perform because it's damn good!!

Some other snapshots of the lyric booklets - here's ayu in an Indian/Egyptian-inspired costume performing INSPIRE and Don't Look Back.

I may like the song "Microphone" but I think that these pages are the best ones in the entire booklet because of the bright and cheerful colors as well as the spontaneous energy from ayu. I'm all about good energies and that's why I'm also a fan of AAA~ Makes me feel like jumping and singing along with them!

And since I got these DVDs from Yesasia, I'm entitled to a free toy and here's the toy for this shipment - another Boo from Mario Bros! Just that this time, it's a really small toy but I like it anyway~ I think I can totally collect all the Mario toys from Yesasia one day.

Well, hopefully for the next few days, I may be able to bring you another entry, provided that I have the time and energy. I shall rest well this weekend to prepare myself for the next phase of my NS life in my new unit. Will probably be stuck there for slightly under a year until I ORD~

Can't wait!! Freedom is nearing~~

Scary weekends

2011-06-03T23:19:00.000+08:00

Things I have to do this weekend...

Buy Maomao's food before he gets intoxicated from Friskies
Get my hair cut
Photo shoot of ayumi hamasaki's "A 50 Singles: Live Selection" + "ayumi hamasaki Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour Final : 7 Days Special"
Blog about the above
Sync new songs into my iPods
Attend Hazel's 21st Birthday at East Coast Park
Do my own laundry
Pray hard that I don't get arrowed to do something...

Scary, no?

May my mental strength see me through!! But no matter how tired I am, I will still accomplish these tasks!