Kevin Mathews and the Groovy People – spectacular!

Recently, Brian was plurking about what we thought of local music. And the first thing that came to mind was ‘My one and only’ which was my top favourite local song – I loved it for how romantic the song was.

Lum May YeeLum May Yee

Remixed by the beautiful Lum May Yee

I started typing out the lyrics and before I knew it, Brian invited me to attend the Rock the Sub at Timbre Substation to listen to Kevin Matthews, the original singer of the song.

And I was glad that I went!

Lum May Yee

Shiny (literally) happy people – The friendly Thomas, guitar player of the groovy people and me

Although the Timbre was dizzyingly full of people, I found myself enjoying the music tremendously, the band was really tight and sounded really good!

Here is a quick video overview of the event :

And of course, my favourite song 🙂

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Leap Years – One of the best local romance I’ve ever watched

Truth be told, I had no intention of watching Leap Years if it was not for Malique whom was so impassionate in recommending it to me.

Vanclaire, rinaz and Mintea

Hence, I went to watch it with the lovely VanClaire at Plaza Singapura last Sunday. And it was such a tear-fest and in the end, I think I washed away my make up clean!

Leap years with Ananda Everingham

Leap years based upon the novella, Leap of Love by Dr Catherine Lim, whom I believe is one of Singapore’s most talented writer. The story revolves about the main protagonist, Li Ann (played by Wong Li Lin) whom by a stroke of inspiration decides to ask a handsome stranger (played by the hunky Ananda Everingham) on a date and takes advantage of an Irish Leap Year custom where a woman’s proposal must be fulfilled.

Leap years with Ananda Everingham

Spurred by her spontaneity he accepted. Eventually, Li Ann and Jeremy realised that they had a connection with each other. However Jeremy had a mysterious issue haunting him, and was only able to stay in Singapore for a short while before flying off. However he promises her that he will wait for her every February 29th.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

With that pledge, viewers will share the journey and find out if this relationship would continue.

I enjoyed the movie, cinematography wise, it was picturesque. The director has effectively made Singapore look very romanticised – the lights of the skyscrapers from across the Singapore river, the bustling sounds of the colourful food centers, the tranquil shophouses, lulled by the melodious Corinne May.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

However I do have minor qualms on how very different our landmarks look like as beautiful as they were, it just did not have the Singapore ‘feel’. In some of the scenes I looked hard and wondered if it was really Singapore.

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Vernetta Lopez

Story-wise, I thought it was deeply engaging, and there were a number of twists that kept me wondering. One of them being the identity of the man, lying in the hospital while a 48 year old Li Ann looks most concerned. There were a number of plots which was easy to figure out, such as the revealing of K.S’s girlfriend, whom by the way, I think had the most unfortunate name ever.K.S = Kiasu? Kiasee?

Leap years with Wong Lilin and Ananda Everingham

At the same time, there are some parts which are illogical, like the part when Jeremy takes Li Ann to meet his grandmother on his first date. She commented to Li Ann that Jeremy would make a good husband – a true grandmother would have known her grandson’s marital status, wouldn’t she?

Leap years with Wong Lilin

And why on earth would anyone promise to wait 4 years to have a date with someone? That’s crazy. I meet Cartcart every six months and it’s already immensely hard. If we had to meet every 4 years, I think I’d probably die from heartbreak.

Regardless, being a romantic sap, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. And like Malique, I clapped at the end of the movie 🙂

Have you watched leap years yet? What do you think about it?

Leap years with Paula Malai Ali

P.s. I don’t know about you, but Paula Malai Ali, the actress who played Kim, is so hot. Speaking of hot, the song below is sexeh too 🙂

[audio:merryxmas.mp3]

P.p.s. I read in some reviews that Wong Li Lin and Ananda Everingham had no chemistry with each other. But I was too busy imagining that I was Li Ann to take notice 😛

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An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance

A most spectacular event. It was surprisingly captivating that I enjoyed every minute of it!

Singa Nglaras Gamelan @ NUS

Recently, my friend, Mus invited me to attend the event, An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance.

Having already hanged out with the Singa Nglaras group during their jamming session, I was definitely looking forward to watching the concert.

I brought my mum as a date. By the time we got into the theatrette at the Arts Faculty, it was completely full of people! We had to content ourselves by sitting on the stairs instead.

But the music was beautiful and hypnotic. They sounded so put together since their first day of their jamming session. Mum was going on and on about how powerful the Indonesian singer’s voice was. Whereas I was captivated by the hypnotic sounds of the musical instruments.

Here is a short clip of the first part of the concert :

I think they were great! Thumbs up for the concert! 🙂

Links :

Cart in SG : Of the gorgeous sounds of the handbells

Wed, 26 Dec 2007

A couple of weeks ago, fellow pingster, Tstar, twittered about her handbell group performing for a concert during the holiday week. After we bugged each other on gmail, she asked if I would be interested in attending. Naturally I said yes!

The tickets Tstar gave me to the handbell concert :D

The tickets that Tstar reserved for us!

Thus on Wednesday evening, Cartcart and I spent some chill out time over at City Hall. Prior to that, it has been a busy day for us, rushing over to attend the Islamic class in the morning. We were glad to have a little bit of respite afterwards.

The coffee conneseiur

We spent a little time for some yummy coffee at ‘the coffee connoisseur’ and I admired the adorable decoration which still had a Christmas theme to it. It was a warm and cosy place to be.

Afterwards, we took a walk along the parliament road where Cartcart admired the historic buildings that were around since 1800’s.

The street to the parliament house

Somehow this picture looks very London-ish. 

We finally reached the Arts house where there were a small number of people already lounging around. Once we found the poster, we went up the rustic staircase and went to have our seats.

the poster to the handbell concert

Though I’ve already been to the arts house, I’ve never actually been into the inner chambers before. This was where it was formerly the place where the member of the parliament gathered to debate. It was a very charming place. The seats were so antique! I even saw very retro speakers attached to the chair.

The show started just as soon as we sat down. I’ve never been to a handbell concert before, hence it was very interesting for me to observe the proceedings. I saw the conductor raise his baton, and then the music began.

Ministry of Bellz at the Arts house

My gosh, it was such a beautiful sound that both Cartcart and I were so enthralled by it! It was such a lovely and relaxing sound that everyone who attended the concert were mesmerized.

Here is a short clip of the concert :

Isn’t it gorgeous?

I scanned out for Tstar during the concert and there she was, cheerfully swirling her bells around. Tstar looks so elegant with her outfit, the cute purple tie scarf and her black gloves. I couldn’t wait to say hello to her afterwards.

During the intermission, I made my way to the ladies for a bit, and when I came back, I saw her chatting to Cartcart and I was quite surprised. That was when they retold their narration.

Tstar : Where is Marina? I thought I saw her here.

Cart : Hello. She is in the ladies for a bit. My name is Roberto

Tstar : Who?

Cart : Roberto … Hmm Cart

Tstar : Oh! You mean Cartcart? Hi!

That was when I saw Tstar’s family coming over to give her their support. It was always heartening to see that 🙂

I quickly took asked for a picture with Tstar but when I saw the picture I was rather shocked.

Rinaz and Tstar

I looked like a giant next to Tstar! I don’t remember being so big!? I’m only 1.6 meters -_-”

Next : Cart’s first meet with the aunt

In this series :

Sidenote : Anyone interested in watching the Chingay parade with me?

Cart in SG : Of first lessons and I am legend

Monday, 24th December

After confirming our appointment with the ustadz the previous day, Mum, Cart and me headed to Darul Arqam in the early morning to attend his first Islamic lessons.

At Darul Arqam

We were introduced to a Haji Mustafa, a retiree who decided to spend part of his time teaching in the center.

It was interesting for me to observe the man. Even though he was in his golden years, he was very fit and active. Full of vigor, he started describing the session coverage and then began the introductionary lessons.

rinaz and mum at a coffee shop in Geylang, Singapore

After the session, we decided to have lunch at the nearby coffee shop and we looked around to see what Cartcart could eat. Cart has made up his decision to become a vegetarian for a number of years and I tried my best to be careful and had to make sure that the food ordered for him has completely no tract of meat in it.

Especially after last year when we patronised a restaurant where there seemed to be a miscommunication and we found out that the food contained meat. I felt really bad as Cartcart had accidentally taken a bite because of my negligence.

Finally we saw an Indian stall which was selling vegetarian meals and Cartcart had a nice plate of Masala Dosai.

Little girl playing at fountain in Bugis Junction, Singapore
Photo credit roboppy

As mum had a prior engagement that day, she left us to our own devices after lunch time and I brought Cartcart to sight see a little 🙂

Little girl playing at fountain in Bugis Junction, Singapore

We stopped by Bugis where there were already large amount of people congregating around the Christmas decorations and a number of children playing around the fountains.

The movie I am legend was premièring. Having already read the book by Richard Matheson, Cart was very keen to watch the movie. So we headed to Shaw Towers where we caught the afternoon show.

Will Smith in I am legend

Unfortunately for me, being not up to date with movie trends, I didn’t realise that the movie had some horror segments till we were in the middle of the movie.

I pulled Cartcart’s sleeve when Will Smith’s character entered a dark building and stumbled upon some creatures. For the rest of the movie, I was wide eyed, sunk in my seat

It was an exciting movie, and I thought that Will Smith did a fine job of connecting the viewers to his character. But without giving too much spoilers away, I was left unsatisfied with the ending of the movie. It was just too Hollywood-ised for my taste.

Later on Cart explained to me that in the book, there were a number of survivors whom did not get completely infected but physically looks the same as a vampire. These survivors formed their own society.

I am legend, Richard Matheson

Unfortunately for them, the protagonist, Robert Neville was not able to differentiate between the survivors and the vampires and kills them both, making the survivors live in fear of him, comparing him to a mythical character, hence the title, “I am legend”.

And at that point, I thought to myself at how interesting it was to actually watch a movie told in the point of view of the zombies / vampires. And I could not help but to carry on discussing about the movie with Cartcart.

How refreshing it is to have someone to banter about movies with!

(To be continued)

In this series :

The hypnotic sounds of the gamelan

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Last friday, I hanged out with my friend Mus, who invited me a Klenengan, which I found out later, is actually and Indonesian Gamelan music.

It was a very cooling evening when I reached the faculty of the arts and social science in NUS, with no difficulty, I was able to find the gamelan room (which is surprising as I get lost easily) and I said hello to the friendly people in the group who were coincidentally having their break.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

I then saw Mus, who looked genuinely surprised to see me (hehehe) and he showed me around and the different types of instruments. Many of them looked like xylophones. I was curious to see that there were different types of hammers used to hit the instruments – I noticed at least 4 different types. I’m sure that this effects the resonance and sound.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

They group started their practice session and I find myself fascinated while listening to the hypnotic sounds as they hammered away happily on their gamelan. Sitting in the middle of the room, it was an experience to not only hear the sounds but to also feel the sound. This was something new to me!

The gamelan, in particular, the selemtem, which looked like a xylophone didnt looked too difficult to play. Mus explained that each panel was actually a number from 1 – 7 and you hit the panel according to the score. It was much easier to understand if compared to a piano.

It was so much fun! I was tempted to hammer the selemtem myself if not for the fact that I’d probably be disturbing the others.

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Cant wait for the next session. Mus! Quick! When is the next one?

Here is a quick video :

view on youtube

Singa Nglaras Klenengan

Links :

Updated : Too funny! Eileen, a fellow pingster was there at the session but we didn’t recognize each other!

Count the product placements in this music video

Although I’m not a big fan of hers, I’m quite enjoying the new video for Fergie’s newly released song, ‘Clumsy’.

It’s a cute video, with the set looking as if it were from a pop out book – something that I had loads of fun with during my childhood.

Fergie Clumsy

I enjoyed looking at all the details, like the paper clouds going by and the paper trees being knocked down.

But one thing that I can’t help noticing, was the blatant product placement. I saw at least three products in this video :

Fergie Clumsy - Dsquared

1. Dsquared

Dsquared is a fashion label created by two brothers, Dean and Dan Caten.

Fergie Clumsy - Mac

2. MAC Cosmetics

MAC is brand of cosmetics sold internationally, and used by professional makeup artists, models and celebrities.

Fergie Clumsy - Motorola

3. Motorola Handphone

I’m not quite sure which model this is, but seeing the logo, it’s obviously a Motorola

I’ve never seen so much product placement in one music video before, but I doubt that this will be the last. At the top of my head, I can recall a few other music videos.

Christina Aquilera - Campari

Campari in Christina Aguilera’s Candyman.

Nelly Futardo - Promiscuous

Nokia 7370 in Nelly Futardo’s Promiscuous.

Rihanna - Cover Girl

Covergirl Cosmetics in Rihanna’s Umbrella. Coincidentally, Rihanna is selling actual umbrellas.

I went to WOMAD and it was awesome!

If you have never been to a WOMAD concert before, you should seriously put it in your to do list.

WOMAD 2007 - Singapore

Having never been to a WOMAD concerts before, I decided to join Geri and Ntt who were coincidentally heading there on that night.

For one of the rare times in my life, It didn’t feel like I was in Singapore that Friday night. Majority of the people that I saw were foreigners. But it was nice to see all sorts of diverse lifestyles here – groups of friends, a family with their toddlers, Ntt even spotted his professor from his university.

Many were dancing and moving lively to the different bands. The first one that we watched was the Mahotella Queens from South Africa. It was impressive to see these ladies in their 60s, shaking and dancing energetically. They have been performing for the past 40 years!

WOMAD 2007 - Singapore - Mohotella Queens

We were supposed to have Sheila Chandra perform afterwards but as she had a sore throat that night, there was the one man band, Muntu Valdo from Cameroon who played the harmonica and the guitar to replace her.

He asked the audience to sing along with him the song, Di Mala. I chuckled to find out that most of us got confused, till he had to repeatedly slow down and remind us to keep our tempo.

WOMAD 2007 - Singapore - Muntu Valdo

We then headed off to the main stage to listen to Clube do Balanco from Brazil. I really liked the sound of this band. It was a groovy Latin sound which I dig. I looked with amazement at low voice of one of the female singer. But she was great, along with the rest of the band.

WOMAD 2007 - Singapore - Clube do Balanco

Their songs made me start to tap my feet and finally put me in the mood to dance along with the other lively people. I would love to have their CD 🙂

Later, we went to see the Shooglenifty from Scotland perform. It’s an awesome combination sounds of the Irish fiddle and dance. I tried to do a jig, but it was hard to do that as I had no space.

It was impressive to see inhibitions down, with everyone dancing, no one caring if the others had two left feet.

And finally the segment that Geri has been anticipating, the Asian Dub Foundation. It had a electronic, punk sound and uses Indian drums. Ntt tells me that the band had a strong anti racism message which are delivered in their songs. But both of us couldn’t make out the words from the blaring sounds.

Nevertheless, they had the crowd jumping up and down, cheering, asking for more. One can’t help but to jump along to the beats. It was awesome!

I seriously enjoyed myself that night. No regrets!

Here is a clip of the nights performance

Click here to view in youtube

Friday night at WOMAD was great. Being live, the music was raw and energetic. You can really feel the music and you cant help but to absorb the happy vibe.

If you had the opportunity to attend WOMAD, just go. You wont regret it. Serious! The worse case scenario is that you could possibly be surrounded by perspiring, stinky people but the music and atmosphere will more than make up for it!

WOMAD Singapore 2007
Fort Canning Park, 24 – 26 August