Wednesday, July 31

That Girl in Pinafore Movie Poster, 2013


Should you follow your heart or your head? That Girl in Pinafore is a coming-of-age tale set in 1993, Singapore, about dreams, friendships, and first loves. The story follows four teenagers' efforts to bring business back to a struggling folk music pub, and the blossoming love between Jiaming and May, both fans of Singaporean folk music. 1992 - Singapore is on the verge of electing its first President, and chewing gum has been banned. Hope and rejuvenation is in the air, everyone believes in the Singapore Dream. Young musicians strive to give birth to a local music industry, creating local music at a rapid pace. Music cafes spring up everywhere alongside the hot new trend, karaoke. Jiaming is a free spirited teenager who has never taken school seriously. His parents own a music pub called 'Meng Chuan', and Jiaming feels schooling is useless as he wants to help out at the business. True enough, Jiaming flunks his 'O' level exams and drops out of school. Jiaming's buddies Caogen, Haoban and Xiaopang pass their exams and move on to Junior College. But they are caught renting porn magazines by the principal and are suspended for a month. During this month, the boys take part in a local music competition, have a taste of first love, and work hard to bring business back to the struggling 'Meng Chuan'. This coming-of-age tale sees Jiaming and gang learn the harsh realities of pursuing dreams in the real world. In growing up, the boys learn that choosing between your heart and societal expectations is akin to losing your innocence to the adult world. The eventual closure of the pub 'Meng Chuan' paralells the real world demise of the 'Xinyao' movement around the mid-90s. It signifies the lost of youthful innocence to the necessities of growing up.

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Went for That Girl In Pinafore 我的朋友,我的同學,我愛過的一切 gala premiere yesterday night! Watched the trailer of this film and it reminds me of You Are the Apple of My Eye 那些年,我們一起追的女孩. It is one good taiwan show I thought. This film here seems to be a local version of it. 

That Girl In Pinafore 我的朋友,我的同學,我愛過的一切 caught my attention more with the catchy theme songs and also Julie Tan being the leading actress. 

The story was rather similar to You Are the Apple of My Eye 那些年,我們一起追的女孩, only slight difference in the plot. If I did not catch that, this film may score a higher ratings from me.

I guessed this film focused more on the 新谣 xin yao songs which lack certain touch on the whole plot. Luckily, the songs were nice and catchy enough for the viewers. Good that it injected certain humor and emotions to brighten up the show.


How I felt after the show: 我的朋友 我的同学 我爱过的一切 有那些年的感觉 似乎回到以往 学生 初恋 追梦 的感觉, 还蛮回味的。 

Ratings: 2.9/5

Sunday, July 28

       严爵 好的情人 Love × π

01. 畢業生
02. 貳零零零年
03. 好的情人
04. 潔癖
05. 沒有答案
06. π
07. Everyday
08. 超級巨星
09. 勝券在握
10. 至少我有我
11. 沒有你的日子的我

Previewed 严爵 Yen-j latest album - 好的情人. This album is one of the better album from him I thought. Could see different genre of songs are being portrayed here. Nice that He had the opportunity to work with different artiste such as Mayday! Love most of his composition and I could see him as one of the potential artiste out there! 

The recommended track from me will be: π好的情人, 潔癖, 至少我有我 & 沒有答案.



Signing off with my favourite song~

Saturday, July 27


Went there for dinner with church mates some time back. Pretty like the concept there which I thought was refreshing. Food was decent though I thought if sides such as vegetables are included, will make it a complete meal. 

The dish I ate was Katsudon and I feel that it tasted good but the meat portion was small with a huge amount of rice. If more amount of vegetables were included, I think it will be quite a good venue bento set. 

Shall try out other dishes if I would to visit them again! 

Ratings:
Ambiance: 3.35/5
Service: 3.4/5
Price: 2.85/5
Katsudon: 3.35/5

14 Aliwal St, Singapore 199907

Opening Hours: Mon - Thurs 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
                         Friday         11:30 am – 12:30 am
                         Saturday         6:00 pm – 12:30 am
                         Sunday         Closed

Tuesday, July 23


 Gao (Jay Chou) is a young chap living in a 1970s fantasy retro world. He stays in a unique neighborhood located on the rooftop of a row of buildings. It is a slum to many, but for Gao, it is a home filled with warmth and vibrancy. Gao works in Po's (Eric Tsang) traditional medicine hall with two other friends. The gang of three often get into fights with Hong, the notorious neighborhood bully. One day, Gao and his friends rescue a girl from Hong’s bullying who happened to be Xin, the famous actress. The story unfolds as Xin gets to know these rowdy bunch living at the rooftop and how they eventually fall for each other despite living in drastically different worlds. Hong then plans his revenge on Gao. So will he succeed or will the couple live happily ever after?

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Watched The Roof Top (天台). This film was directed by Singer-actor Jay Chou. I thought it was decent since this was his first try. 

The story started quite light-hearted and fun-loving where humor are injected. While watching, I thought it infused singing and dancing element which made certain scenes seems like a Hindi and musical film. The story did not flow that well with jumping scenes here and there. It was rather refreshing to catch it in a mandarin film. 

Though there are certain climax towards the end, I thought it ended rather abruptly for me. The transition was rather big, from lively to a sad ending. 

Overall, I think it is still quite a good film to catch.

Ratings: 3/5

Sunday, July 21






Woo! Attended 潘瑋柏 Wilber Pan concert - 释放自己演唱會! Danny won tickets and kindly invited me there! I would not have attended if He waited to see if he won the ticket! He went to buy it because Danny boy was too eager to see Wilber Pan!

The concert was held at The Max Pavilion and lasted about 2 hrs 15 mins! There are more fast tempo songs instead of slow ones! Though I hope that more slow songs are being delivered, I still enjoyed it! Am glad that He sang most of my favourite songs such as 我們都怕痛, 我让你走了, 寂屋出租, Kiss me 123 and 無重力!

I thought you will only see audience standing up, to enjoy Mayday concert but you will see it at Wilber Pan concert too! His fast tempo songs are pretty good which allow all to go high! 

Great singing and dance performance though He was unwell! He still strive to do his best!! 

Image courtesy: AMC Group

Saturday, July 20




The story takes place in Seoul, 2011. Lee Yoon Sung is a talented MIT-graduate who works on the international communications team in the Blue House. He plans revenge on five politicians who caused his father's death with his surrogate father Lee Jin Pyo and eventually becomes a "City Hunter."

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I think the story started well which caught the viewers attention on wanting to understand what exactly happened. However, as the story goes on, I thought it was rather draggy with the romance scenes which can be made short. 

Am looking forward for more action-fighting scenes, however, there wasn't much injected to it though I have to agree that the few ones there were actually decent. 


Nice acting from Lee Min Ho and Park Min-young! Great chemistry they had there! Lee Joon-hyuk did reasonably great for his role too. 

As a whole, the story flow was good and smart to plan and get the baddies to the justice of law one by one. It ended abruptly for me without much impact to the entire series. 


Ratings: 3.55/5

Wednesday, July 17


When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes--a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)--who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

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Watched Pacific Rim with Trois yesterday evening. The story started draggy and did not flow well in the beginning. As I watched further, it caught my attention with flash-back scenes wanting to find out more on the entire story. 

This film was better than I expected. Nice visuals and explosive fight scenes! Though it was a rather predictable film, I thought the entire plot got clearer and better towards the end!

Appreciate the chinese subs which helps me understand the dialogue!

Ratings: 3.7/5

Monday, July 15



01. 超有感
02. 糖伯虎
03. 村上的貓
04. 千分之一
05. 一體成形
06. 變奏的浪漫
07. 忘了怎麼快樂
08. 大確幸
09. 不預料
10. 1413
11. 超級煩
12. 超好感 (超有感/糖伯虎/變奏的浪漫/村上的貓/千分之一)

Previewed 黃鴻升 Alien Huang latest album - 超有感. This album is rather 'Alien Huang' because the same style was being portrayed. Nevertheless, it is still decent. Something commendable was that He is constantly improving, be it singing, hosting or dancing. 

The recommended track from me will be: 超有感,  千分之一,  忘了怎麼快樂 and 大確幸!



Signing off with his hit song~

Sunday, July 14


This stall sells prawn noodle and laksa. Whenever I patronize the stall, I will order 排骨虾面!! This dish tasted yummy because of the chilli sauce! Spicy and sweet! Thus, is is very appetizing! 

Without the chilli sauce, it can be just a normal dish. The pork ribs tasted soft and tender and was well marinated. The prawns tasted normal but decent. Besides pork ribs and prawns, there are hard boiled eggs and fried tofu which I thought was interesting. 

The soup tasted sweet and yummy too!

Ratings: 4/5

Chung Cheng Chilli Mee.Prawn Mee.Laksa (Golden Mile Food Centre)
505 Beach Road
#01-59 Golden Mile Food Centre

Opening Hours: Daily 8.30am to 8.30pm 
                         Closed on Tuesday

Monday, July 8


The heat is on! Singapore stakes her reputation as a food paradise in the SingTel Hawker Heroes cook-off against Gordon Ramsay yesterday night!!


It was a close challenge and yup, the overall winner had to be Singapore's Hawker Heros!! Tian Tian Chicken Rice wins by 6%; 328 Katong Laksa wins by 19%; Gordon Ramsay's chilli crab wins by 5% of votes.

                                                                                   
Fans will remember him from his iconic shows, MasterChef US and Hell’s Kitchen. Can’t get enough of Chef Ramsay and his explosive personality? No worries! You can tune in to Star World HD and FOX HD channels on SingTel’s mio TV, as Gordon Ramsay returns to screen in MasterChef US Season 4 and Hell’s Kitchen Season 11!! Premiere details below:

MasterChef US Season 4
Premieres Sunday, 8 September 8.45pm
Star World HD (SingTel mio TV Ch. 301)

Hell’s Kitchen Season 11
Coming very soon on FOX HD
FOX HD (SingTel mio TV Ch. 330)

Saturday, July 6

Once Upon a Rosti





These are the some of the menus that you could find at Once Upon A Rosti!! This cafe is located near Tanjong Pagar. Nice ambiance with a variety of choices for you to select from.  


Went there with friends a few times and yup, a snap-shot of my rosti - Sir All Day Breakfast! It was served with egg, cheese, turkey bacon and chicken Italian sausage together with the rosti. Great combination which goes well with the sour cream! 

Oh ya. You can select 2 sauce to go with the rosti! For me, usually, I just add one will do and that will be - sour cream. It comes with a free drink if you order the value meals.

The rosti was served warm and tasted rather crispy. However, it was rather small. It tasted good though it could be better. If you want to satisfy your tummy more, I think it will be better to order the double rosti.

Ratings:
Ambiance: 3.7/5
Service: 3.45/5
Price: 2.8/5
Rosti: 3.45/5

Once Upon A Rosti
8 shenton way #b1-15 axa tower S(068811)
Tanjong Pagar mrt exit E

Opening Hours: 
Monday - Friday: 11am-8pm
Saturday: 12pm - 8pm
Closed on Sundays and PH (unless otherwise notified)

Thursday, July 4

Every Little Thing



Every Little Thing is a regular fashion and lifestyle market organised by Public Garden.

By fusing local progressive brands and directional, independent designers of Singapore, Every Little Thing presents a highly edited ensemble of apparel and accessory collections that are designed in Singapore.

Every Little Thing reflects the look of the current consumer and presents a fresh approach to apparel-related markets in Singapore. From high to low, vintage to new, bold to understated, Every Little Thing is well-curated and carries the pulse of Singapore's fashion scene.

A constant across Every Little Thing's participants is an advanced level of aesthetic, ideas, styling, fit, design and branding.

Public Garden will be donating local products to a charity of their choice. For every 10 vendors signing up, Public Garden will donate 1kg of local products.

Examples of local products are: locally designed clothes, locally designed accessories, books by local publishers and locally designed tech items e.g. thumb-drives. These are items and goods that will benefit needy children and needy families.

Click here for more information.