1 Out of 7 Billion

The world is getting smaller everyday but a lifetime is not enough to explore it. My adventure starts in Singapore.

You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys

Celluloid / Spiders / Portraits

June 28, 2009 — 3 Comments

Gavin Lim, one of the directors of the local TV drama “Fighting Spiders” (Mediacorp Ch 5, Tue, 830-930pm) is staging his first one man photo exhibit at Old School on Mount Sophia until Sat, 5 July 2009.

“Celluloid / Spiders / Portraits” features selected photos taken during the production of the show using Leica M6 with Summilux 50mm lens.

P1030493

P1030494

P1030504

P1030505

P1030507

I’ve seen every episode of the show (so far) and it’s great to get some behind the scenes info by reading the captions.

Try to drop by when you have the chance, especially if you have seen the show!

Venue:

2902 Gallery at Old School

11 Mount Sophia, Building B, B2-09

Singapore

Gallery hours: Tue-Sat (11am to 8pm), Sun (1pm to 6pm) ; Ph +65 6339 8655

How to get there (Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut):

1) Car / Taxi

2) From ground zero — walk up the stairs near 8@Mount Sophia condo (warning: those who have been lazy to go to the gym will need to rest after several steps!)

View upon reaching Mt Sophia. Treat the climb seriously!

P1030492

Paul The Musical

June 28, 2009

If my memory serves me right, this is the first live religious musical I’ve seen here in Singapore.

I must admit I do not know the full story about (St) Paul. He is also known as Paul the Apostle or Paul of Tarsus. His conversion (metanoia) happened around AD33 on the road to Damascus where he experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus after which he was temporarily blinded.

Paul's Ministry (source: Wikipedia)

The church friends whom I went with to the show knew much more about Paul so would occasionally whisper to them and ask a few questions.

The musical was organised by Church of St. Mary of the Angels and was held at NUS.

Main cast

Timothy Wong, Daniel Chua, Jurane Solano, Geraldine Isabelle Yeoh, Brandon Yuen, Eu Jin Hwang

P1030474

Show ended around 1015pm so still had time for boardgames at Settlers’ Cafe along North Canal Road near Clarke Quay MRT station.

With Sury, Marlene, Eugene, Sam

Flare

June 27, 2009

I attended “Flare”, a screening of nine (9) short films made by the pioneer batch of filmmakers graduating from Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media. It was held at the Gallery Theatre of the National Museum of Singapore.

P1030410

Featured short films :

Promises in December (Elgin Ho)

Kitchen Quartet (Nicole Midori Woodford)

Respirator (Michael Tay)

Mu Dan (Lincoln Chia Zhicheng)

Frail Line (Er Kia Hui)

My Underwear, My World (Danny Lim)

Neighborhood Ghost (Felice Tang)

Backyard Bowler (Amanda Tan)

Threshold (Loo Zihan)

Photos with a few friends

with Loo Zihan, director of "Threshold"

with Michael Tay, director of "Respirator"

I became interested in short films in early 2008 and I have to say that I see a lot of promising filmmakers steadily making their mark here in Singapore (and around the world).

Italian Sunday Lunch

June 14, 2009 — 2 Comments

Annalee is visiting this weekend with a special request to go Italian over Sunday lunch. Jika told me that there’s this nice Italian resto near her place so we tried it.

Pasta went for around SGD 15 and was just the right serving. The place also has buffet lunch that goes for SGD 35.

This place gets packed on Fri, Sat, and Sun evenings. Book in advance to avoid disappointment.

Annalee, me, and Jika

I tried the Rigatoni Alla Donna Carmela. Yummy.

We also tried the panna cotta and lava cake.

Donna Carmela (242 Pasir Panjang Road , Pasir Panjang Village , Ph +65 8200 5630) .

They also have another outlet in Greenwood Avenue.

BBQ in the East

June 14, 2009

Cedric hosted our choir BBQ over at his awesome place in the east. A good number were able to join the party which ran for about 6 hrs (ended shortly after midnight). Truly a great opportunity to relax and bond with friends after a busy week.

Cedric’s place has a large pool and it’s a shame that I still haven’t developed confidence in deep water. I should really try swimming or at least some form of physical movement in the pool (ha) for the 2nd half of the year.

P1030318

P1030331

P1030333

P1030334

P1030337

The “Making” of “How to Make a Prawn Pancake”

June 14, 2009

Got invited to be part of the audience of Violet Oon’s forthcoming cooking show to be shown over Razor TV. It was the taping of the pilot episode and there were around 15 others who joined in the fun. I’ve never heard of Violet Oon before but after a quick Google search, I felt assured that it was going to be an exciting morning… indeed it was.

Behind the scenes -- the media industry is really an exciting one

Violet Oon

I learned how to make prawn pancake which can be prepared in 10 minutes (assuming you have the all the ingredients ready).

The finished product. They cooked more pieces for the audience to try after the show.

Watching the taping gave me a painful reminder that I am behind my culinary “personal target” this year. I should catch up soon and make up for the months that I did not cook a new dish.

Is 10pm Late for You?

June 7, 2009 — 4 Comments

Sunday, 7 June – 10.00 PM

Phone rings

Leo : Hello

Woman : Hi, this is X from Y. We met in Raffles City. (I was in Raffles City during one of my leave days. This woman from an insurance company — not from the company I got a plan from as they are professionals — disturbed me as I was walking to the venue of my appointment. I told her I was in hurry but she wouldn’t let me go until she got my mobile number).

Leo : Aren’t you calling a bit late? (I consider the time of her call — Sunday past dinner, when I’m feeling anxious about Monday — a terrible time. None of my friends call me on Sunday night so I have little tolerance for people who sell stuff and are quite inconsiderate unless I said it was ok to call even at a later time).

Woman : (Drumroll please…) Sorry, is 10pm late for you? You said the best time to call you is during the weekend and I have been quite busy the past few weekends. (Yes, while I’m no uncle yet, it’s quite a bad time. At this stage, I was already getting annoyed. So it is my fault that she was busy and since now is her only convenient time, I should be more understanding?)

Leo : (But I still try to be respectful to the caller) How can I help you?

Woman : Would you like to meet up? (obviously to sell whatever she needs to sell).

Leo : Sorry, I cannot meet up with you anytime soon. Let me just call you as I have your business card anyway. (It’s true — I can hardly set up any appointments over lunch during the work week as I might be in meetings or be working on urgent stuff).

Woman : How about lunch? (Maybe in her view, “not being able to meet up” only meant breakfast and dinner.)

Leo : Sorry, I am usually in meetings so I cannot meet up (This lady is really desperate to get me as a client.)

Woman : Okay lah (Guess not — she seemed to have given up on me. Yey.)

Leo : Okay bye.

I end the call.

To me, it boils down to having respect for someone’s time. Calling at an unusual time to sell something to someone you don’t know without apologising (or entertaining the thought of doing so) is irritating. Prefer not to waste time on such type of people. Would rather read stuff, watch TV, or … blog like I’m doing now… at such a very, very late time – 1130pm.

Sunday Brunch at Orchard

June 7, 2009 — 2 Comments

10 at Claymore is such an amazing discovery. I didn’t even know there was a Pan Pacific Hotel towards the other end of Orchard (hmm, maybe the less popular side). Glad I regularly browse through local magazines and event websites.

Their Sunday brunch runs from 12nn to 430pm, one of the longest in town. Apart from the buffet offering, guests can choose from a good variety of main courses (part of the package).

SGD 48.00++ (free flow soft drinks)

SGD 68.00++ (free flow soft drinks, wine and beer)

P1030249

Jin and Mel

Mons and Andrew

Julie and me. I'm sporting a new haircut, hopefully that makes me a bit younger.

P1030254

10 at Claymore (Pan Pacific Orchard Hotel, 10 Claymore Road, Singapore, Ph +65 6831 6686)

Ice Cream Mixed, Ice Cream Enjoyed

June 6, 2009

I was at Holland Village to meet up with Casey for lunch. Learned more about the furniture expo he participated in + a general catch up over Crystal Jade noodles.

I arrived earlier and took the chance to walk around. Spotted Cold Rock Ice Cream so dropped by after my lunch as Casey had to head to another appointment. I miss Cold Rock. I used to buy ice cream from either Greenbelt or The Fort (both in Makati, Philippines) so it was awesome to taste it again and gain some calories on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Step 1: Choose the ice cream and other goodies to mix.

Step 2: Ice Cream assistant grinds the ingredients into manageable chunks.

Step 3: Ice Cream assistant mixes the ice cream and other ingredients.

Step 4: Serve and enjoy without much guilt.

Happy Birthday to Me

June 4, 2009

Another birthday has gone by and I feel truly blessed a lot of people remembered. Received calls, SMS, emails and Facebook wall posts/messages.

The celebration started shortly after midnight/ crossover to June 4. I arrived home with mom and Auleine surprising me with a birthday cake and balloons upon entering the house. Whoa, have never held balloons in a long time (not that I had been hoping to all this time). For age confidentiality reasons, I am only publishing the photo with the balloons. The birthday cake had big and small candles. :p

Happy Birthday to me!

Spent 4 June on one day leave from work and went running around town the whole day before heading to Kallang …

1) for dinner with the family (Dad was busy celebrating my birthday while overseas; he also kept calling or asking mom for my whereabouts !) …

Thai and Teochew menu

Cereal prawns - one of my fave Singapore dishes

Thai Village (5 Stadium Walk, #01-50 Leisure Park Kallang; Ph 6440 2292)

Link : http://www.thaivillagerestaurant.com.sg/

2) The Pussycat Dolls — Doll Domination World Tour in Singapore

Watching this show fulfills my promise post-SingFest in August 2008 that I will catch their full-length concert should they visit Singapore again. Learned about their world tour via Sistic and booked seats immediately.

Show ran for 1.5 hours. Just right though I expected it to have a much longer encore. Stage was simple — they made up for it by using most of it during the night.

One doll was missing (forgot who as I only recognise Nicole, the lead singer) due to a fractured rib (ouch) and her absence was noticeable because there seemed to be space for another person while they danced on stage. Talk about being there in spirit!

Photos