A-Yue Unplugged 2008

Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts 2008
Zhang Zheng Yue (unplugged) Live in Concert

Date: 16th Feb 2008

Location: Singapore

Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall

Time: 7.30pm

Guest Performer: MC Hotdog

It was a night filled with sentimental tunes by A-Yue.

Two words: Damn good.

Guest appearance by MC Hotdog has definitely managed to hype up the crowd, with "我爱台妹"，"母老虎" and my favourite "就让这首歌". There was no 'official' encore as A-Yue candidly admitted he would have come on stage again if we've screamed encore, so he just continued. We also had a chance to witness how talented the rest of the Free9 was as they did a short performance/impersonation of a certain band. Well, what can I say, they are good!

And, for the first time in my life, I actually got these mechandises signed.

I'm a happy and satisfied fan.

Cheer Chen - A Piece of Summer 2007

a piece of summer a piece peace of you

Date: 29th Sept 2007
Location: Singapore
Venue: Max Pavillion, Expo
Time: 8.20pm

Despite the low publicity for the concert, Cat 5, 4 and 1 were sold out!

The concert kicked off with Cheer's acoustic performance of "九份的咖啡店", followed by a series of slow, melodious songs from her previous albums and it became a major karaoke session for the fans when "还是会寂寞" came on.

Just when my male companion was slowing being hypnotized to sleep, "Sentimental Kills" managed to stir him up and got the rest of the crowd on their feet, swaying along with the music. The numbers that followed were largely from her recent album, and each had a little rock element in it, hence, needless to say, the crowd was high. The audience went alittle crazy (standing on chair, screaming at the top of their lungs, snapping photos profusely) when she walked down the aisle and me being not-very-tall had to stand on the chair to catch a glimpse of her red hair. Then, it was my favourite karaoke set when everyone started jumping, singing to "讓我想一想", and some were busy video-ing.

The crowd remained standing throughout the rest of the show, and I'm one of those. Anyways, it was so hard to remain seated with that kind of atmosphere and wouldn't it be a little awkward if everyone is so "estaci-fied" and you are trying to look/feel/fake cool? Her last song was "旅行的意義" which ended the concert so perfectly. However, her abrupt exit did suggested encores, but it didn't occur to me that it would be at total of 5 encores (according to some sources)! I had to leave after the 3rd encore to catch that last fleeing MRT train. THE only regret of the concert.

Although I'm not a No.1 fan of hers, it did make me feel really good and I'm so happy that I caught this gig. I think I'm going to buy her Collections Album or something. I really enjoyed some of the songs, even though I havent heard them before. My male companion and I were pretty awed by her live performance.

I'll remember to bring my camera and charge my camera phone to the max batt-life next time.

I'm glad my "summer" ended on such a musical and artistic note.

PEACE

Phantom and the Ah Beng

Phantom of the Opera is GOOD! Very good.

Being an ardent fan of Broadway Beng, there is no way I can miss this show!

It's a 1.5hr of pure laughter and enjoyment. Compared to the previous Beng, this one presented itself in a more structured and less random manner, and if you are the fans of ChioBus (aka CB), you will not be disappointed, as this time they have gotten more chance to swing and sing. As for my favourite Ah Beng, he's still good with Hokkien Classics and Opera Classic (Well, this time is the phantom lah!, not Ms Saigon liao!)

My favourite is how he managed to capture Singaporean Spirit so accurately, especially our National Pastime and we too, were given a couple of numbers for us to try our luck. The literal translation of Hokkien (欢喜就好，爱拼再回赢) and Mandarin (夜来香) Classics left me laughing my head off and can't deniably feeling they do contain some of the life's most simple and direct, yet often forgotten clichés.

I left the Drama Centre, feeling 30% up to God, 70% need to work hard. Let me admit that I was singing to the songs, discreetly.

Fisheye 2 Craze continues...

Hotel

Taipei 101

Inside 101

Flower Pigs

NO BLINKING

Ferris Wheel

Roadside stall - Food

Nada Sou Sou

In a nutshell, NeeNee (Satoshi) takes very good care of stepsister (Nasami), love grows with time, separated due to circumstances and when stepsister is in danger.... shall not spoil it for those going to watch.

Ok, as weepy as it might seemed, this movie didn't get me crying until the last part. The plot is pretty much expected, however, I didn't quite the part where certain things ended too abruptly, but I guess that is to make time for the very touching last part (which I ended up with a running nose when I left the cinema). Satoshi Tsumabuki did a pretty good job in this (better than the 5 second appearance in Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift), although there wasn't any major breakthrough, since the character, is your typical nice man, which Satoshi played most of time. I really hope that Satoshi can play some evil, psychotic guy next time. Nasami, too did a decent job this time, however, her high-pitched "NeeNee!" never fail to make me shudder.

A good effort by the production team as they manage to create a very real childhood for the siblings with lots of candid and daily activities pictures of the children. In addition, the setting in Okinawa takes us away from the usual hurly-burly Japan, and brings us to the suburban island where the pace is more downbeat and breathable.

Lastly, to make it a complete movie, we can't miss the quirky characters, especially my favourite 'Obah'. Someone who appears to be blasé maybe the one that actually reads between the lines and sees the real you.

Fisheye 2 Craze & Taiwan - 1

Jiu Fen
Jiu Fen
Feng Qia Night Market
Salt Mountain
Fo Guang Shan Temple
Feng Qia Night Market

Unfortunately, these are the only few pictures that turned out pretty ok. I had so many overexposed pictures!! My mistake for using 400 film and leaving my shutter open for too long!!! 100, 200 film here I come! I need more more experimenting!

Je ne suis pas la pour etre aime

Depsite a busy schedule, I still managed to catch a movie at this year's Singapore's 22nd French Film Festival - Je ne suis pas la pour etre aime. 50 years old, huissier de justice, a tired heart and smile, Jean-Claude Delsart has long abandoned the idea that life still holds pleasant surprises. Then came along the day which he permitted himself to open the door to a tango course.....

Old tired 50 year old man+pretty young thing+Tango class. Before you dismissed it as another "Shall we dance?" movie, this movie will definitely set you thinking and laughing. Awkward silences, father-son relationship and love. Although the movie was downbeat, it was injected with good humor and the performance by the cast was definitely commendable.

October-Oktoberfest

My first Oktoberfest wasn't too bad. German food, performers, pretty waitresses, and beer.

Oktoberfest = Beer. Lots of it.

Although I wished we had gathered more people for this event, I had fun with all that beer-drinking, eating and be merry ambience. I'll be back next year!!