It’s the Chinese new year and of course no new year celebration to welcome to Lunar new year is complete without the inclusion of food! And lots of them. This year’s celebrations was held at the Queens college junior combination room. I’ve never been to Queen’s JCR before, only their halls for formals and apartments of friends in the area. Apparently it’s situated right on top of a loft proving rather good views of the River Cam via Sliver street and the adjacent University center (where the gyms are). Despite it’s rather small size, the JCR was decked out with plenty of sofas and furniture, not to mention being able to accommodate an odd 30 over people who turned up for the gathering.

It was organized by mainly the second and third years of the CuMaS association, the Cambridge Malaysian society (why can’t the Singaporean cookouts be just as awesome?), with many new faces, namely several year ones where we spent most of the evening meeting and integrating into the group.

CNY Reunion!

Foodies!

Yu Sheng!

Huge servings of variety of local Malaysian and Singaporean delicacies such as noodles, (Mee goreng style), Curry chicken, omelettes and Bak kut teh just to name afew. The huge group turnout calls for at least 6 rice-cooker pots of home cooked chicken rice and a double tossing Yusheng at the end of the dinner session. It was quite a big feat to prepare all the food for so many people as well.

The Lunar new year is just like any other day here in the UK, a typical work day buzzing with people on the streets, with school still on and lectures to attend, with the exception of Chinese restaurants and takeaways all closed. Chinese new year for me this year was a rather simple and fat-free one too, considering I was more selective on the ones I am able to go this year given my leg injury. Also with most of the awesome seniors who graduated last year not around in Cambridge to organize their trademarked annual steamboat dinner, I am happy to say that the food standards had not dropped either. This new year mass pot luck is one which still lives up to the legacy set by the seniors of last year.

Having said that, in the light of the Chinese new year, wishing you good health and a prosperous Lunar new year of the dragon ahead!

Happy New 2012! A whole new year, a whole new area of possibilities! The fireworks at London was fantastic even when viewed on the TV as broadcasted by the BBC. The sparkles lasted just over 12 minutes right after the midnight chimes of the Big Ben. It was a grand display of over 12,000 fireworks, producing 50,000 projectiles, also welcoming the year where the Olympics will be held in the city itself.

I did the London Thames countdown to welcome 2010 in my first year of college. But personally I think the crowds and effort to crawl all the way there is not really worth the hassle, unless if you intend to make the countdown an whole day affair and literally camp the best firework spots since midday by the embankment. For most of us that year, it’s just a matter of “being in town”. And of course unless if you are planning to check out the awesome new year’s day parade running through the heart of London and the still ongoing boxing day sales (or in this case now, new year day sales) attending the countdown is a no-brainer.

Anyway regardless of how you welcome the new year, 2012 will come anyway, well… eventually. So what are you new year resolutions for the brand new year?

I don’t think that is too much to ask for. 2012 is also the year of the Dragon on the Chinese lunar calendar too, which in the case for my sister is a big year for her turning 24. I remembered the time when I was 24, made me realise how old I am, haha.

Nonetheless, hello 2012!

Fireworks photo credit: REUTERS/Andrew Winning

And so it’s December and time for a much needed blog post on the happenings so far here. Guess I was just too busy with stuff and the end of the that I had not found much time to share the happenings here as of date. The sad fact is that there is actually quite a lack of things happening here, with the exception of homework and loads of end of term pile ups and deadline reports to submit (and finally done with whew).

Having said that, Christmas here in the UK is also the time where almost everybody head back home and out of college for Christmas. Everywhere here in college seems pretty much like a dead town now in comparison to the term time buzz. The kitchens and halls get progressively quieter over the days as the holidays finally hit. The streets are all quiet, bare and empty with most stores all closed until next year. This is of course in stark contrast to the situation back home, particularly most shopping districts in Asian countries, like those in Japan, Seoul and Singapore, with the streets buzzing even with extended store opening hours till midnight.

Christmas here in the UK on the contrary is one for the family- Christmas tradition holds as a get together period for all family member and relatives alike. This means getting together back at home on Christmas day enjoying a scrumptious Christmas dinner (which also means the most expensive time of the year to travel too). This is my first year where I get to spend Christmas grounded in Cambridge due to a leg injury. Which kept me pretty much grounded here in college and made me very acquainted with Taxi drivers in getting around town as well as the hospital outpatient’s department. Due to the inconvenience of travel, I didn’t get to spent at my aunt Jenny’s place, though she never fails to always delight with her wonderful roast and Christmas cheesecake. Just a pity I can’t join her family this year.

Pre-Xmas dinner!

Roast!

Desserts!

Anyway, I won’t just stop there and call it quits. Christmas is a time of feasting and celebrations. So the least to do is to have few get people together, particularly those who remained in college during the period. There was a pre-Christmas day dinner at an upmarket restaurant in town as well as a wonderful Christmas lunch and dinner with university mates at a large rented out-of-college accommodation flat courtesy of an old friend of mine. The flat was big enough to house our Christmas day party of 25 and we had Turkey! Loads of it. Well too much turkey, 2 large birds in fact to the extent where leftovers the next few days were literally Turkey days as well.

Weather-wise this is my first winter here in Cambridge without snow. It seems this year the snow decided to head home too, it’s pretty much snow-less Christmas in Cambridge. Not to mention rather warm for winter now too. Surprisingly, there are still many trees out there with their leaves on and lush green patches of autumn grass dotted everywhere around town. Temperates here range from 5 to 11 degrees here at night which is nearly autumn weather in comparison to the sub freezing temperatures of last year and the year before.

In comparison, lets take alook at the snow that was in Cambridge the years before. Surprisingly this exact panorama taken 2 years ago by yours truly was used by my college as the official college Christmas card this year. I am honored!

Snow here in Cambridge is known to come in one big flop in December just before Christmas (well at least for the last 2 years I was here) and very much sits around slushy like a sore thumb throughout January at least. Commendably, the weather here in Cambridge is as good as it can get in the UK. Cambridge is pretty much sheltered from harsh storms and snow, given it’s location in land just north of London. So if the weather is bad here, chances it might even be worst else where.

So that’s for Christmas this year now, there was lots to eat and not as bad as I thought to be, despite being grounded. And oh thanks for the Christmas cards to those who sent yours, I had to find more wall space to pin all of them up this year.

In the meantime, Cheers and have a great Happy new year ahead!

Hey hey, I am back in the United Kingdom just at the start of my third year in college. My 2nd year was fairly good given my various commitments during school term, but otherwise still mostly study study study. I guess my year 1 made me better prepared for year 2, not only in terms of the syllabus but in-sync with the pace of study which Cambridge is notorious for. On average, you cover like 3 year’s worth of poly knowledge in under 6 months here, it’s that fast. And the size of my annual lecture note binders don’t lie either!

This year too marks the final undergraduate year, with my 4th year being a Masters program. And what other better way to begin my trip back here than to queue up 2 full hours at the UK Immigration as Heathrow T3 upon my arrival (about 7pm London time) that too blessing me with the unexpected ability to miss not only one but two national express buses out of the airport in the row.It just can’t get any much better.

My time back in Singapore was short, but otherwise fruitful. It was nearly 2 months of relaxing and getting stuffed fat with home-cooked food prepared full of love. Had my annual dental checkup as well visiting my Grans quite regularly at AMK too. There were few nice food outlets I got to try this summer, namely a nice curry crab joint by the name of Mellben Seafood. Besides that, I was more or less pounding over 76,000 words on the computer day in-and-out for my trip blog posts. That includes my travel tours to the Middle East, Europe, the West and East coast of the United States.

H&M Craze in Singapore
Looking back at some of the musing when I was back in Singapore, the H&M craze was worth mentioning. Given the amount of hoo-ha the store received with shoppers even queuing up 12 hours beforehand to get into the store (and vouchers) on opening days. Humorously, sometimes I don’t understand the mentally of our fellow country men, particularly the Kiasu mentally which plagues every Singapore I see everywhere.

I do not know how my friends in the UK will think of us Singaporeans going all gaga over the launch of a clothing retailer which is almost like “This Fashion” back in the UK. No one batters an eyelid at H&M here and in Europe. I won’t be surprised if we become pretty much a laughing stock back here whenever I get to talk to my British friends about that. As a matter of fact, I personally think the less popular Uniqlo and New Look imports in Singapore tend to be more popular here, despite considering the clothing collections in Singapore not quite matching up to that at the stores in the UK.

The horror of Halloween Horrors
Then came the big news of the cancellation Night Safari Halloween horrors. It came pretty much of a shock to many after the installation of the Wildlife Reserves new chief executive. It won’t be surprising to see a new helmed CEO flexing the power of their new position by introducing drastic (and often controversial) changes to the organization. So why not start with the cancellation of the award winning Halloween horrors for starters? I bet no one expected and hilarious repercussions brought upon the Wildlife Reserves for those actions, particularly the large public outcry it caused and the stir it had with the president of Singapore, all made worse with seemingly sweeping and unjustifiable reasons for the cancellation. Inevitably, more damage was created than it was intended to avoid. Not a good start for the new Chief Executive I reckon.

Halloween is a huge event out of the shores of Singapore notably in the US and UK. It’s personally one which I look forward to every year and the idea of dressing up in unique costumes every year keeps your creative juices following, particularly if you make your own. The streets on Halloween are packed with party goers, theme parks all transformed into fright night specials with tons of special new rides and theming to go with the festivities. Halloween is undoubtedly one of the most recognized annual events internationally and usually feature the most fun parties of the year everyone looks, unlike Deepavali.

Undeniably, Deepavali is a big event in Singapore, but having that in place of Halloween is unjustifiable, unless the lack of a global focus is what the Wildlife Reserves is gunning for now. No offense, but as much as we love Deepavali here in Singapore, believe or not, the event is completely unheard off in the western world. Focusing on the more “Family theme” for Halloween just loses the essence, it’s like having the mid-autumn festival without mooncakes. But isn’t death and scares the basic making of a Halloween theme?

So do you think the lack of external exposure for our Singaporean kids leads to the fear of Halloween itself? I think so. This too, considering that death is still largely perceived to be taboo in Asian communities. We are a by-product stereotypical mindsets crafted by the expectations of society, with no leeway to think out of the box or self-exploration, fueled by the endless noisy flinging of Angry Birds on iPads and iPhones on every bus and train throughout the country.

That is my Singapore.

Tryouts were on tonight at the Hilton Singapore for a media showcase of Activision’s newest cross platform action-fantasy adventure game- Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. As with all adventure games, gameplay involves controlling your character through a full 3D universe, with various baddies to beat and areas to explore. The game takes a different path of the Spyro franchise and somewhat into as a spin-off series into the first of the Skylanders series.

You assume the role as the portal master, being in control of 32 different characters, including our beloved and favorite fire-breathing dragon, Spyro. You choose your in-game character through placing highly-collectible action figures, (which are too, the focal point of the game) onto a portal device connected to your console, PC or handheld. It literally adds a whole dimension to choosing your character and beats having a generic character selection screen seen on most games in this genre, not to mention scoring many points with kids alike. The portal base device itself is a battery operated peripheral which comes with the game on all platforms and dependent on your setup will be recognized as an additional wireless controller or USB interface device.

Gotta collect them all!

Available on all platforms!

Demo by Activision crew

The action figures themselves appear to be rather well crafted and painted, which interfaces with the portal base via Near field communication (like RFIDs). Besides doubling up as a rather nice desk figure, it also stores all saved games, level-ups, equipment loadouts and stats of your character in the figurine itself, allowing you to deploy your character on your friend’s consoles too. Storage is non-volatile so no power is required on it to retain any data. This hardware platform is somewhat proprietary and is required by all players to access the Skylanders universe.

The game and toys were developed by Toys for Bob. With your character chosen, it sits on the portal all lit with a nice glowing effect, courtesy of RGB LEDs in the device itself. Players here can embark on a fantastical journey into an amazing world, where you can explore mysterious, mythical lands, unlocked by the unique abilities of your elemental characters themselves. Need to swim through a water course? Switch to a water element character. Need to thread fire? Select a fire elemental character instead. The seamless switching of characters allow you to choose on-the-go the right characters to solve puzzles, battle menacing outlandish creatures or employing their unique abilities to explore the far reaches of the game collecting gold, treasures or just for that 100% completion.

spy-ro a demo with my evil eye!

Wut cheat codes?

Spyro in-world

The game itself is playable in campaign and battle (PvP0 modes, with the first offering both single-player and cooperative multi-player, bringing you through this segment of the Skylanders storyline on a quest to save their world from Kaos, an evil Portal Master.

Playable characters become unlocked upon purchasing their corresponding action figures, which can be customised with an array of equipment, gear and hats, which seemed to spark an uncanny obsession of hats, which we can evidently see too in Valve’s Team Fortress 2. The role-playing aspect of the game allows you to gain experience points by defeating monsters and leveling up for upgrades. Next comes the competitive player versus player mode which is standalone and separate form the campaign. Here, you can pit your campaign characters through arena-style fight it out slug-fests, complete with cage-style jump pads, death spikes and traps. All characters in the Skylanders series are balanced, so expect all the other characters to stand a fair fighting chance even against the favorite Spyro, all to balance out the PvP gameplay.

Impressively, the game comes with a rather star studded production cast as well, with game’s character design by Tom Hester (who did Shrek) a storyline script penned by the writers of Disney-Pixar’s original Toy Story film (Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow), sound effects by Skywalker sound and a music score composed by the all popular Hans Zimmer.

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is published by Activision worldwide and by Square Enix in Japan. It was originally revealed to be exclusive for the Nintendo Wii and 3DS, with the support for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows announced only early this year. Is expected to be released on October 12-13rd 2011 in Asia, 14th Oct in Europe and 16th Oct in North America. The starter pack itself retails at about $70 USD for all 4 console platforms including PC and comes bundled with the portal base and 3 actions figures (Spyro, Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy), with all the remaining 29 characters available by year end.

Many thanks to Activision for the presentation and happy3media for the media invite.

Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) has announced the debut of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, an entertainment breakthrough for the toy and video game industries. Through an innovative use of technology, the game allows players to transport real-world toys into virtual worlds of adventure through the “Portal of Power™.” These “toys with brains” can come to life inside the game in connection with multiple gaming platforms, as well as on handheld gaming devices, mobile devices and on the web, remembering achievements and level-ups wherever they go. This marks a wholesale change in the interaction between toys and video games, opening up new possibilities and revenue streams for both industries.

Activision brought its gaming expertise together with top Hollywood creative talent to bring Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure to life. The game and technology was developed by Activision’s Novato, California studio, Toys for Bob, led by creative director and studio head, Paul Reiche. The adventure driven story was penned by two of the Academy Award nominated writers of the original Toy Story movie, Alek Sokolow and Joel Cohen. The result is a line of highly collectible characters, an engaging story, and an immersive interactive entertainment experience.

There are many unique and innovative elements to this experience, including:

• Each Character Has its Own Unique Powers – In addition to the highly collectible design and personalities of the toys themselves, each character has different powers and abilities, opening different experiences inside the game. Players can drop in and out of each level with as many different characters as they like, making each players experience unique.
• Toys With Brains – Each toy/character remembers the player’s shared experiences. Achievements and leveled up capabilities earned in the game are embedded inside the toy and travel with the toy. Wherever the toy goes, its experiences go with it.
• Portal of Power – The Portal of Power serves as the gateway between our world and the amazing world of the characters in Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure.
• Play With Friends – By placing two characters on the Portal of Power at once, players can team up together for cooperative play, or face off in player versus player battle arenas utilizing their leveled up characters.
• Diverse Experiences on Diverse Devices – While the toys can be used with gaming consoles to play the disc based game, completely different gaming experiences await them on the mobile app and inside the Web World, each of which were designed specifically for those platforms. The result is a remarkable number of different gaming experiences in one game.

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure lets kids take on the role of a powerful Portal Master, who can control over 30 different characters, including the beloved purple dragon Spyro. Each of these heroes is a protector of an amazing, mysterious world, but they have been ejected from their world by the sinister Portal Master known as Kaos and now they are frozen in our world as toys. Only the players of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure can get them back into their world, by embarking on a fantastical journey where they will explore mythical lands, battle menacing, outlandish creatures, collect treasures, and solve challenging puzzles as a part of the quest to save their world.

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is developed by Toys For Bob, an Activision studio located in Novato, California. The game is not yet rated by the Classification Board. For more information, visit www.skylandersgame.com

About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website.

Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention, was held this weekend with the last day being today. As the name suggests, it’s a convention featuring an assortment of Toys, Comics and Games, Cosplayers with creepy photographers included. If I am not wrong this con is roughly into just over it’s 5th year or so, with my last con with them here being their debut year and man had they improved alot since their first.

A $10 entrance fee will get you in with unlimited re-entries via a stamp. The good thing about charging an entrance fee is that it prevents the general casual crowds from just walking in or simply just using the place as a hangout, which is a welcome in keeping the crowds down. Surprisingly it’s not as packed as I intended it to be.

Chilling with Andrew Bell

Superhero toys!

Got Saber?

Andrew Bell was the main reason I was there, considering him also being a crazy Android fanatic as I am, which is craziness in a good way I guess. Surprised was I when the STGCC first made the announcement of him being a guest of honor of the con.

A droid fan will simply can’t resist his Android toys, possibility explaining why I got one from abroad when the first series was first announced or even heard off here. On how the series started, apparently he was approached by a close friend of his who works at Mountain View (Google) who needed an artist in help with the designing a figurine series, stuff went off from there and yea you get it, just fill in the blanks from here.

Andrew is very down to earth and cool guy to hangout with, in contrast to his his rather bizarre works such as his on-going Creatures in my head series.

The place is cos-players aplenty, notable ones will include a team fortress 2 pyro and spy (you can see where this is headed too), Carmen Sandiegos, as well as a few awesome dragons by the name of Dark Lurker. There were many Anime characters as well as a balanced mix of western ones, such as star wars and marvel characters.

Italian plumbers?

A Tamiya Racetrack!

Presidential campaign poster

The entrance to the con was done at the exhibition hall 401- right at the end which is weird as everything is all squeezed there with a huge adjacent stage in hall 402, seemingly completely devoid and separate from the action. A question of inadequate utilisation? maybe. And though the spare hall might be needed by the cosplayers and events alike, it will help if the wasted space in the second hall could actually be ultilised to expand the floor areas of the exhibition area, particularly those for the artist alley- their booths there are really pathetically small, and yes though I know they are paid for in peanuts, but that’s where the crowds are.

There were cosplay competitions as well as a Tamiya one, including an impressive uber Tamiya race track to boot, built in a way that it tests almost all aspects of the car’s ability such as weight distribution, balance and power. A sight to behold itself.

In all, this is no International comic con, so don’t be expecting San Diego standards here, after all, such cons in Singapore are really a niche item here- largely affected by exposure to external influences, it is just something uniquely not Singaporean at all. Nonetheless, it’s still good to see the con going strong over the years, Though I am not exactly sure on the future direction of the con, who knows it can expand further into more variations or even specialise in one, besides branding itself now as a jack of all trades.

Ok, that’s all I have for the small con today, now to back back to those creatures stuck in my head…

Hey hey! Guess what’s keeping me busy from the blog over the past months? Travel! Yup, lots worldwide, it had been a rather fast 2nd year in uni, together with all it’s opportunities and challenges alike. What other better way to let off all the post exam stress than with planned trips travelling the globe? Travelling is awesome, especially re-visiting old places and new alike. So where had I been? well there’s Europe first in Paris in last December, followed by the US west coast in January and the east coast in this summer. Been quite caught up sorting and publishing all my trip photos online here, therefore this huge update. Musings of the free and easy traveller, feast your eyes on them!

US East Coast Trip
First off, I have my latest east coast trip up North America, I’ve segmented my places album as “global travel” now, splitting them all into regions containing all the respective galleries. So without further ado, east coast section:

New York & Brooklyn

Florida Hollywood Studios

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

My east coast trip involves travel from London to New York, checking out upper and lower Manhattan, particularly landmarks such as TimesSquare as well as the statue of liberty. Washington was up next, comprising mostly of national monuments such as the Lincoln memorial, War memorial, Washington memorial just to name afew. Visited the white-house too! The next part of the trip consist of fun at Sunny Florida with the Disney and universal themeparks followed by chillout at south beach Miami. The last part of the trip was a roadtrip to various eastern states, such as Ohio, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Sanddusky with an awesome trip to Cedar point theme park.

US West Coast Trip
This earlier west coast trip was done last Christmas, where I get to return back to San Francisco after almost 15 years. The place had changed much, but still retains much of what makes San Francisco famous for. The city has an excellent interconnect public transport network of buses and subways systems, allowing you to cover great ground affordably and with ease. It was not time before a free and easy traveller like me conquering much of the Bart and MUNI public transport system. Visited various landmarks and museums around the alley, as well as Plato alto, mountain view in silicon valley.

Golden Gate

San Fran Cable cars

San Francisco Twin Peaks

Paris Paris Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, one of the world’s leading business and cultural centres, Museums and the various boulevards. This trip was done just after my Christmas dinner and stayover at my aunts place in the UK last december. Thereafter it’s a zip across the English channel on the Eurostar high speed railway to catch sights such as the icon Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, various museums such as the Louvre and Disneyland Paris!

Louvre Paris

Eiffel Tower

Paris Disneyland

London Museums
Last but not least, good old London. I’ve more or less covered and explored all the Major museums in London, adding into the pool will be the Museum of London and one of my favourite, the V&A museum.

Back to more writing. Expect dedicated blog posts on the respective trips!

Gong xi fa cai! What other better way to welcome the year of the rabbit than a back to back Chinese new year feast for 5 consecutive days? And I thought last year’s 3 day steamboat affair was good. I guess it’s get better this year knowing where are all the parties are.

Before Chinese new year, (1st Feb) Day 1. We gathered our juniors and few invited guests to have a taste of tossing the traditional yusheng. Yes it was a mass yusheng event all right in college. Most of the yusheng ingredients were bought off local supermarkets in towns, with the exception of the sauces and crispy crackers brought in from Singapore by my junior. Surprisingly tossing the yusheng is still an exclusive Singaporean and Malaysian get-together traditional before the lunar new year- something even my Chinese and Taiwanese friends do not know or practice either. Our yusheng appetite is followed by a get together Formal in the college dining hall!

Steam boat gathering

Yusheng Day!

Cheers!

Day 2 of the celebrations, which is the actual new year’s day eve saw a reunion steamboat dinner at Pembroke college common room. Hosted by our “uncle” Justin, a follow Malaysian known for his awesome dinner parties. He never fail to surprise us again this year with the variety of food, all simmering in various rice cooker “steamboats” (we even had halal and non-halal pots). There were a 30 odd attendee and many new faces from the juniors, not to mention old friends from other colleges.

Day 3 saw myself being invited by my dorm mate John for a steamboat dinner at Emmanuel college with his bible study friends. We tossed yusheng again before settling down on food for the evening. We even had special Bakgua porkfloss buns, and I never thought I could ever have a go at these delicacies all the way form home right here in the UK.

Day 4 was my only low key day, and a much needed breather from all the massive calorie loading from the previous nights. It was Pasta night in my kitchen with my block mates, our only non-chinese day and man was the pasta good! :3

My 5th and last day of my Chinese new year celebration saw a massive gathering of friends in college for a steamboat in the J-block kitchens, which can accommodate big cookouts for 20 or more people at a go. I saw myself going for so many steamboat dinners in other colleges but of course no other better way to end it with my fellow college mates. This last one is memorable as I made the iconic Wanton for the steamboat, which was kinda like an experiment. To my surprise everyone loved it, even I can’t believe it myself! Kudos going out to my aunt and mum who taught me how to make them as a kid.

That’s all for now, I hope your Lunar new year was just as eventful. Happy Chinese New Year. Cheers!

Check out the Chinese new year 2011 photo gallery.

The Disney Hollywood studios is an independent park of focused more on the aspect of filming making and action, namely all the lights camera and action stuff. It is located west of the Disneyland Paris hub, next door to Disneyland Park at the heart of the resort in Marne-la-Vallée. This part of the hub aims to celebrate the art and the artistry of storytellers from Europe and around the world who create the Disney movie magic.

pure Disney magic!

hollywood boulevard walk

Walt Disney, dreamer and doer

Opened on March 16, 2002, the park is themed after a working film studio, with the “lands” typical of Disneyland parks being studio lots. The Hollywood studios is much smaller than the main park, the front main street (Or Front Lot Studio 1) is themed to Hollywood boulevard and is a retro recreation of a typical Hollywood Broadway in the mid 1930s. Shops, restaurants and diners reside here completely indoors, allowing the place to open even at times of bad weather.

stunt show spectacular!

Zoom! boom!

chugging along the studio tours

The park itself is split into distinct lots: The Production Courtyard, Backlot and Toon Studio, not including the Toy story playland and Front Lot). Home to the backlot is the resident Lights Motors Action stunt show spectacular, only this one is in French! (Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular). What you get here are Hollywood style zip zamp boom boom gunfights on stunt bikes, cars and random guys falling off the roof burning type of action. The show was apparently highly sought after, with the amphitheater all packed to the brim when we were there.

dragon angry!

on the broadwalk

got aerosmith?

The Studio Tram Tour- “Behind the magic” is a tram ride attraction. However, due to the snow, few of the attractions are not functioning with all their effects turned on, but at least the attraction is running to a large extent. In comparison, the tram tours are not as large as the Universal backlot, with only a small handful points of interest, there are even no live studio guide. On the contrary to what most expect of the backlot tram tours, the entire backlot area is actually all simulated, all the movie sets here are all just old props setup as exhibits and not “hot”, so don’t be expecting to turn up on the tours and potentially catching some filming for an upcoming blockbuster going on.

The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster- Avec Aerosmith is another ride in the backlot, it’s a Vekoma launched steel dark coaster set to the rock studio theme, staring aerosmith. Each train car here plays their own aerosmith music track as you hit the corners and inversions in total darkness with some surprises installed on track. You can identify the distinct music of each train (or the super stretch limos as the guys call it) by their uniquely themed license plate numbers.

intergalactic heroes!

Honey who shrunk the parkguests?

On the EOC dude!

The Toy Story Playland is the kiddy section of the park, with is rather nicely themed to the “Honey I shrunk the kids” setting- everything here is all jumbo sized, in the way that the toys here are all the rides themselves. This part of the park here is amazingly packed and crowded, mostly with children and accompanying adults. The rides here are rather tame and may appeal most to family people, who don’t mind spending hours queuing up for kiddy rides here. Rides here includes the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, which is a miniature cable drop ride, the Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin and the rather cool RC Racer which is essential almost like a viking pirate ship on tracks.

The Crush’s Coaster located in the Toon Studio is an ultra cool and heavily themed spinning coaster, complete with it’s own on-ride story telling elements in-line with “Finding Nemo” and riding the EOC on the coaster bits all presented in one fantastic dark ride. They even had the manufacturer, Maurer Söhne custom made turtle shell train cars, which goes with the theme.

Armageddon

Love the hollywood tower

housekeeping must be slacking

Armageddon, Les Effets Speciaux is a special effects showcase of the Armageddon movie we are all familiar with, directed by Michael Bay and starting Bruce Willis. It’s essentially a simulation of the space station part of the movie when it was bombarded by the asteroid and meteoroid pieces, with fiery results to boot. The best ride in the park besides the Aerosmith Rock and roller will have to be the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, firstly not because it’s the most awesome looking ride on the park, the whole concept and buildup of the ride is unlike what you see around ever, coupled along with Disney’s tradition of interactive storytelling.

The story has it that the hotel was struck by lightning on October 31, 1939, mysteriously transporting and crashing an elevator cart full of passengers to the Twilight Zone and causing an entire wing of the building to disappear. The building was then empty since then- You enter the tower as if the place was left untouched and in 60 years of neglect from that faithful day.

No expense was left out on detail to theming too. The exterior of the tower resembles the exact replica of the Hollywood tower hotel complete with a blackened scorch mark across the front of the facade where the lightning struck it. Humorously passing the main elevator in lobby yields one lift with it’s outer door exploded and stuck at floor -1.

Waiting for our elevator

The tower at night

That’s all folks!

A combination of pre-ride shows and pepper’s ghost illusion tells the Twitlight zone story- the park guests tonight experiencing the very same very own episode of The Twilight Zone again that faithful night. As the main lifts are not in service, we had to move down to the service areas to use the “service elevators”. Upon entry, you will be secured with seat belts in a ride capsule sitting about 20 people at a go. The ride raises and drops you continuously the 50m drop shaft, with the ride computer having a different selection of drop variation patterns each go, making each ride experience a different one every time.

Here is a filler of how the ride goes.

Powering the ride are huge motors are 4m tall by 11m long, and weighing 60 tons each, able to accelerate the full 10 tons weigh of the ride carriage at 15 times the speed of normal elevators, plunging guests down faster than the speed of freefall. This lift technology is ironically provided by Otis, who literally spent their whole existence preventing lifts from free falling.

We covered this second park in Paris as part of our planned 1 day park hopper, it is actually possible to cover all the major rides here with proper ride and fast pass planning. Also coupled with the fact that this park actually closes at 7pm- 3 hours earlier than the main Disneyland park, so it pays to visit this park in the late afternoon till closing and heading back to the main park thereafter for the closing fireworks.

So that’s all for the Hollywoody studios, Disneyland always never fail to disappoint, we had a great time!

Ahha, Disneyland, the land of smiles and happiness, this time in a different continent- Paris. Getting to Disneyland Paris is a breeze as the park is well served by public transport, namely using the region’s metro rail transit. An journey just about over and hour’s train ride out of the city limited (out of the 3 metro zones) will bring right to the last station on the line- the Marne-la-Vallee. You will be greeted by the Disney village upon exiting the train station. This is part of the 3 main areas of Disneyland Paris, namely them being the main Disneyland park itself, the Hollywood studios (aka like the MGM studios in Florida) and this Village which is mainly a public accessible retail outlet and F&B area.

Amazingly, Disneyland is only one of the themeparks in the region which operates all year round, even in the peak of winter in the snow. Most European theme parks, particularly those in the United Kingdom (Alton and Thorpe park) are all closed for the winter season break and only re-opening in the summer.

Train to Marne-la-Vallee

Disney Village

Disneyland park!

The park’s ticketing area is relatively packed, but fast moving. I am surprised that the park has quite a respectable crowd here despite it being a workday, presumably everyone’s here for the winter break. While student discounts for themeparks is literally something unheard of anywhere in the world, particularly the United States, Disneyland Paris do offer student ticket discounts at the counter. Just remember to ask for it as the discount is not publicly shown on the price board and bring along your student ID and proof of identification.

Cinderella castle

Snowy!

The frontier river

There is no lack of crowds here in the park, man do we really have to make full use of our fast passes for the rides here as the queues are really long. The thing which sets this Disneyland apart from the rest around the world are few customised rides built around a European theme on top of the old familiar ones we see in the older Disney parks. This is done through with a few niffy additions, paintjobs and ride retheming so it won’t look like a complete rip off from their Japan and American counterparts.

Got haunted Manor?

Frozen Stiff!

Thunder mountain railroad!

Taking the haunted mansion for instance, or in this case, the Haunted Manor. The ride is set and built very similar to all the other haunted mansions everywhere, but this one has a unique storyline of it’s own, one of a Manor haunting the house and it being haunted blah blah blah and stuff. But the basic concept is largely the same- dune buggies and lots of dark effects in this sub-underground ride. There are alot of new sections in this ride too, such as the western and graveyard areas.

The park itself does look amazing in the winter snow. While most parks employ artificial snow and theming to give the frosty Xmas look, there seem to be not much effort needed here for that similar effect. And do frontier land look really beautiful with the natural white sheen at this time of the year.

Banging on the Xmas theme

Aye matey!

Aye the Pirates of the Caribbean!

The weather has some gripes too- with the Frontier lake frozen stiff, the steam boat ride and jungle cruises are all pretty much out of action for months. The same is for outdoor roller coasters such as the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom ride. Good thing majority of the attractions are weather-proof, such as the indoor country amphitheater, where we were treated to a Xmas ice skating performance by various Disney characters, not forgetting mickey all decked to the Xmas snow theme.

Few classic rides and attractions such as splash mountain and toontown is absent here. In place are some rides we are familiar with such as the Pirates of the Caribbean dark water boat ride, Davi Jones locker (which is just a simple cave exploration thing). The Fantasyland here is pretty much a rip off (as most Disney Fantasy lands are) with the usual rides such as Peter Pan, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, Pinocchio’s Fantastic Journey. Only thing that they are different in French, like the Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty’s Castle).

Fantasy land!

pretty much a family area

The Disney Village

My favorite part of the park, as with most Disneyland is Tomorrowland, the one in Paris is exceptional and simply rocks big time. Gone is the sterotypical futuristic white, typical in most Tomorrowlands. The one is Paris is decked to all gold with the whole section themed to an ultra cool steampunk look. It’s like a blend of medieval technology and rockets if you put it. Tomorrowland is home to many of our classic rides of the area, such as Autopia, Buzz lightyear space blasters, Star tours as well as the trademark shuttle orbiter (Orbitron – Machines Volantes). Too bad there is no Monster’s inc ride or laugh floor here.

Tomorrow land!

Emmppperor Zerg!

Got star wars?

The real true reason to be in Tomorrowland is the iconic space mountain and literally that is the best ride in the park. This space mountain which is Jules Verne-inspired is unlike all other ones around the world, conceived by the imagineers as a ride of a lifetime, this variant of Space mountain: Mission 2 is a Vekoma steel catapult coaster. Surprisingly, going with the space theme, the ride station is not as well themed to a space port as I was expecting, considering how better themed are the other Space mountain loading areas are, it simply does not do any justice for a ride which is so much more awesome.

The ride is set on the idea of launching people into the moon via the uber cannon on the building, complete with fancy lights and smoke effects. This cannon is essentially the LIM uphill shot section of the ride, which replaces the traditional hill lift seen on most roller coasters, propelling you straight right into an inversion inside the dark ride, with plenty of corkscrews to boot all served with onboard music too. Space mountain: Mission 2 ranks highly up as one of my most favorite coasters in Disneyland themeparks, with the Rock and Roller coaster not too far off.

Best Space Mountain, period!

Xmasy!

Disney magic!

Disneyland always spare no expense in bringing the Disney magic to the main street with their iconic street performances and dances in front of the castle. The one in Paris is no exception either. Making full use of the early setting sun here in winter, the performances here are all decked out in fancy lights and booming fireworks, best enjoyed at night. Totally going with the Disney magic regardless where in the world you are.

Next up, the Disney Hollywood studios!

So it was a day like no other, why not try something different yet not so crazy at the same time, why not go skydiving? There is a parachute center not too far off north Cambridge (about 50km) which offer runway and skydiving services. Here people of all ages and experience come here for dives using the parachute center’s planes for “the lift”, so technically anyone here who is a certified sky diver can hop on the plane and jump off throughout the day. For me and my friends without any prior experience, we will be doing tandem dives.

It costs about £250 for a tandem dive, which involves you being strapped to an senior instructor who will be doing the jump. He or she will train you before boarding the plane on the proper techniques of jumping, like exiting the plane, what to do in a jump how to regulate airflow/speed and what to do in emergencies. Your instructor is very much your lifeline and the one who call the shots during the jump.

Apparently my tandom instructor had been jumping for decades and this is easily over his 10 thousandth jump to date. So as I learnt. Despite this being a tandem jump, the experience is the same as jumping out by yourself and not strapped to another 100 odd kg guy behind you. The best part of the dive is the acceleration you get for first 3 seconds after you leave the plane. You get this awesome feeling of the rapid acceleration no other roller-coaster can mimic on the drop phase, only this time you are exposed to the elements with the world spining all around you. And no, there are no bars to hold onto like on a roller coaster.

wheeee!

WHO’s the man!

behold the fast approaching ground!

You get this somewhat disorientating spin, seeing the horizon all around you as you leap off the plane, just like the rush of sea water all around you when you do a back-flip off a boat while scuba diving- you take a few seconds to get your orientation right and open up your arms to start the decent proper. Here is where you adopt the “trademark” arms and legs open stance so as to get the maximum drag of air around your body. Close your arms in to speed up the dive and vice-versa. upon reaching terminal velocity, all you can is this feel of constant wind rushing past you and the warm sun in your face at peace with the world.

It’s not long after (about 20-30 seconds) where you reach the below the 10,000 ft mark to start to pull the chute, the altitude is read from a wrist worn altimeter. Here you will start the long gliding decent down back to earth. The instructor and myself did some rather interesting mid air stunts, such as spins and barrel rolls with our more maneuverable rectangles chute. Generally 6 consecutive spins is somewhat manageable until you pull so much Gs (feeling extremely heavy) off your harness it feel really scary thinking your carabiners might just rip off your chute at any time! Here “walking on air” is really true, seldom can you see nothing between your feet and just the ground thousand off feet below you.

It’s not long where we did a circle for a proper approach and decent to the landing fields, we did a sliding landing we stick both our legs forward and slide on our buttocks on the forward. This is generally recommended for heavier tandem landings and lower risk of possibility breaking your legs on a too fast decent.

And excellent jump. Come to think about it, now the number of plane take-offs and landings for me now will never ever match for now.

You can view more photos of the jump here.

The National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA), Gold award holders alumni (GAHA) 15th anniversary dinner was on today. Held at The Pines, (previously known as The Pinetree club), it saw the reunion of the gold award holders over a lush 15 years of history in the presence of Mr Mah Bow Tan as the guest of honor. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim was there as well.

Surprisingly quite a number of the guests who attended the event are noticeably more senior than what I expected, reminding me how long the GAHA had came about since it was conceived a full 15 odd years ago (therefore the large spread of the age group within the guests). The bunch I was in was considered to be the “younger batch”, with most of us either students or just entered the working life. Very much like-minded people.

The food was decent. It was a 3 course dinner which didn’t quite really fill me up if it weren’t for the flow of drinks. We had rather plain looking vegetable soup, followed by cod on vegetables and melted ice-cream with fruits for dessert. A fair way to spend gambling money I guess, as the event was actually sponsored too by the Tote board and Singapore pools.

My table was quite an interesting bunch. Got to meet quite a few new acquaintances. There were few from the GAHA exco on the table, as well as representatives from ITE college east too. Some even brought their parent along for dinner too. There was a student who studied in Scotland, one who is taking a Gap year and intending to major in neuroscience, there was even an “escort”. They even exclaimed that I don’t look local, tending more towards a Japanese or Korean look, gosh really? Has my time in UK mutated me from the all-complaining, char kuay teow lovin’, hello-kitty queuing, Kaisu Singaporean which makes us uniquely ummm, Singaporean? I mean though I do have a given Japanese middle name, but hey I am still very much a Singaporean!

The minister’s body guards got to sit with us at the table too, it was really interesting to hear the insights and lives of these people under the cover who work like the equivalent of the secret service in the US. They were kind enough to to share with us some of their experiences and responsibilities working in the force and the cohesive circle of security for Singapore which they sought strongly to adhere and protect- always emphasizing on the importance of protect key personnel in the light of the overall total safety of Singapore which makes up total defense. So it seems they live up to their reputation as bullet eating, kungfu-kicking bodyguards as I come to know of! Humorously, during a magic show lined up as part of the dinner performances with a disappearing act, I asked: “what happens if one of the minister disappears during the magic trick?”, “Oh then we will be really dead…” one exclaimed. : P

Coincidentally met one of my old SP student development officers on my way out after the event where she’s waiting for the valet. Had been sometime since I’ve updated myself in the light of the SP student alumni office, apparently it turns out that there been some major changes in the department, but nonetheless all the officers are still there. And gosh she still remembers my name, citing that she will never forget any of her student names, commendable. :3

Ok guess that’s all I have for then. Beside attending the various lectures which the NYAA organises, I guess it might be another year before we all in the NYAA GAHA get to meet again, at next year’s dinner.

Aha, it’s finally done. Behold, one of the largest updates to the photo galleries in a long time. The university photo gallery has been online for sometime since early this year, but I’ve not actually found time to update anything nor caption any of the photos till my breather time this summer holidays.

Thankfully for that done now, though I actually take quite some musings in updating the galleries than actually seeing it as a chore :]. This post serves as a bookmark and table of content in logging all these album entries before I go about revisiting my travel dairies for each of the individual trips in detail with their own respective blog posts each, going more in depth of the photos in the galleries itself. There are also additional photo stitch panoramas which I am still in the midst of compiling, so I guess that’s something to look forward here under the travel section!

Glad I had one of these many chores looming over my head cleared before term starts in a month’s time. In the meantime, do check out the various new galleries I have listed. You can also access it directly by clicking on “university” on the links on the left under the gallery section.

Musings in London, with time to spare!

London for a walk!

Natural history museum

Sights along the Thames!

These photos in the first section encompasses random photos I take on my regular trips to London, which is not too far off where I stay in Cambridge. The city is always buzzing with events and parades, let be meeting up with friends studying in the various city colleges there as well. London is a relatively safe world class city with an ethnic melting pot and many things to see, their museums are no exception either.

Cardiff wales and Christmas with Aunt Jenny

Cardiff castle

Christmas stayover!

1207 Oaiham castles

These next photos are taken last winter during my trip to Cardiff in wales followed by a Christmas stay over at at an old family friend’s place for a Christmas dinner. It’s also the first time I get to stay with a British family, so it was quite an eye opener for me.

Trip to Alton towers.

There is no roller coaster too scary for me! much to the others on the trip too who never quite saw the thrills you get from the fantastic coasters alton towers have to offer. Alton is widely know to be a pioneer in few of their roller coasters still in operation today, like be the first diving, inverted and flying coasters (That includes the first corkscrew coaster in the world too, now defunct)

Nemesis rocks!

Oblivion

Flying on Air!

The Lake District

Ambleside beaches

Steamer in Ullswater

Mountains of Keswick

The lake district is one of the most scenic sights in the whole of Britain, possibly said to be the “yellowstone of UK”, the views offered in the vicinity are breathtaking given the number of lakes and mountains around the area, providing endless opportunities for mountain goers and trekkers alike.

That is not all, you can view all of them and more at the university photo gallery.

A HD video I got compiled from last Monday’s celebration of the national day parade 2010. Celebrating Singapore’s 45 years of independence.

The video essentially starts after the National anthem and lasts through the whole 5 minute firework show, ending with the president’s leave from the Padang.

Happy 45th birthday Singapore! And so, I was at the national day parade (NDP) tonight. I was fortunate to be invited to watch it today at a rather short notice thanks to an ex-classmate of mine who knew I was around town and happened to have an additional ticket at the last minute. :3

This was of course contrary to my initial plan to just spend the long weekend at home watching it, seems the unexpected kind honours of attending this year’s parade at the Padang itself came very much impromptu!

Getting there was not much of a problem, with the exception of the rather packed MRT stations. The tube is in fact one of the few best ways to get there with all the crowds above ground and contrary to the bus route I taken (which actually made diversions further than what I’ve expected from the venue itself). Nonetheless I arrived on time at the venue with a good selection of grandstand seats to choose from.

Found a good seat, now wave your flags!

The bad goodie bag pile

The Durian & Sands IR from the Padang

Prior to being seated there were of course security checks and the distribution of famed goodie bags. I was not surprised that my bag items and funbox were all damaged, with their faces dented & corners ripped, considering how the logistics have them all piled up in mountains. Guess my box is not that lucky in the handling department despite it’s serial number ending with 0888 . On a bright side, thankfully there was ample food for always-hungry people like me, not to mention enough drinks in the packs to last the whole parade proper.

Having toured some parts of the marina bay since I returned to Singapore, I was initially puzzled by the fact that both the Padang and the floating platform had performing stages decked on them, so I thought there were going to be 2 concurrent venues for this year’s event. Later do I know from some of my contacts on the YOG that the floating platform was actually used for the opening ceremony the day before. In other words, given the smaller seating capacity at the Padang this year, there are actually much fewer tickets and thus more exclusivity to this year’s parade as I was told.

Overview of the flag flypast.

Neat shot of the F15 flyover

Great views with the fantastic CBD skyline

Looking back, the last time I’ve attended a live NDP parade in person was more than 10 years ago, in 1997 to be exact where I participated as a performer in the combined school choir- something which I never actually see myself doing but got to understanding and appreciating the workings into bringing about a successful NDP performance. I’ve been much of an NDP critic over the last few years then, with a benchmark of the next always being better than the last. This is also particularly true towards the NDP songs, which are always notoriously known to be too cheesy for their own good. The ones over the last year including this present one are commendable indeed.

The mobile column

Midshow fireworks

Night lighting

The parade was rather short in my opinion, lasting about 2 hours tops. I remembered past NDPs being slightly longer, or maybe the considering of the mobile column segment eating considerably into some performance time, therefore fewer performances this year.

With the exception of one band parade member fainting, performances are good, the floats this year are at least proper ones too and not some “pick up truck convert”. The lighting throughout the performances were nice as well, with the exception of those situated in front of the green grandstand, where 2 sets of coloured floodlights were constantly on blinding all the audiences sitting on the yellow grandstand.

Noticeably is the animated projection on the city hall which I last saw at the Cambridge University’s 800th Anniversary courtesy of Projection Studio London, wondered if they are responsible for the ones at this NDP too.

Forming the flag

Some of the performance pieces

The finale fireworks

The ending fireworks lasted about 5 minutes, not the longest NDP fireworks to date, but one of the most diverse with new launch points on top of buildings as well as whole new sights of the central business district and the marina bay sands. Crowd control after the event was well managed too, with everyone moved on steadily out of the venue. Humorously a looping audio reel constantly playing the background reminds you of the respective MRT station directions to head to from the event, with smooth calming instrumental jazz music.

In all a great event, fitting for Singapore’s 45 years of independence.

As what Tychus Findlay would say “Hell, it’s about time”. Yes indeed, with 12 years in the waiting since 1998, Starcraft 2 is finally released and in the hands of gamers as part of a 3 series story starting with the Terran campaign- “Wings of liberty”. The official launch party in Singapore was on today afternoon at atrium of Funan the digital lifestyle mall. Long queues snaking around the building can be seen right before noon today, with the first in line said to be camping in the mall for the last 48 hours.

I usually see great value in the games Blizzard publish, namely from their 3 flagship games and universes- Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, I am not really a fan of the Warcraft series, particularly getting hooked on World of warcraft, despite playing the series since WC2 and all their expansions. Besides Diablo too, Starcraft has always been a series which stood close to my heart during my growing up years, let be the endless multi-player sessions with friends right after school everyday via our 56kps dial-up modems. Those were indeed the days.

No stores in Funan were stocking the game as of yet today, with the launch party being the only exclusive source of the game today. Boxed versions of the game will be available in store tomorrow with or without additional freebies/goodies depending on the store you brought your game from. Had a chat with Brian Kindregan from Blizzard who was there for the launch as well, a nice chap who also had no problems with photos!

Brian Kindregan from Blizzard- SC2 lead writer

The queues outside

And we have boxes! & boxes

The thought of Starcraft 2 is indeed nostalgic, with thoughts of reliving the good old days in pure high definition glory or visuals. Graphics had definitely improved, though anyone familiar with the old Starcraft interface will be disappointed with nothing really new introduced in the game- mostly everything being a fancy repacked remake of what is currently existing with a few additional units. On the contrary, that was exactly what Blizzard had in mind too, so that old players can simply just jump right into the game and play it just like the old game, 2 sides of the story.

The game is highly optimized for performance too, the game runs flawlessly at Ultra settings (1920×1200) with a high respectable frame rate on an i7-950 and GTX280 setup as well as a dated Q9450 and HD3870 setup at home. Will be trying the game out on my tri-screen setup at 3600×1920. Sure beats the old game fixed at 640×480.

With Wings of liberty released, Blizzard was unable to comment on the launch of the boxes campaigns for the Zerg and Protoss campaigns as well, only time will tell where more information will be released in public. In the meantime, the next Blizzard game to put your crosshairs on next will be Diablo III.

Currently on display at the Singapore National museum are one of the most talked about pieces in modern art- Cai Guo-Qiang’s flying pack of wolves, Head on. Just like any modern art, it can either awe, shock or draw controversial flak. But you can’t deny this is a show stealer.

Head on!

Not an everyday scene

Wolf-off!

Showcase talk
Located in the underground bowels of the National museum, the display was made out of 99 individual replica wolves and were produced in Quanzhou, China in 2006 (from January to June). The wolves are made to follow a continuous circle, running off in a pack before leaping off into an orderly floating frenzy before coming head first into a glass wall. The glass wall symbolizes the invisible roadblocks and challenges we face in life due to miscalculated risks or greed, which will inevitably stop you dead in your tracks.

No wolves were harmed in the making of this showcase- The workshop commissioned in manufacturing these remarkable, life-sized replicas of animals are local in Cai’s hometown. First, small clay models were created as movement studies, out of which Cai subsequently developed Head On’s artist editions of cast resin wolves. However, the realistic and lifelike 99 wolves that grew out of these models and drawings possess no literal remnants of wolves. No wolves were harmed in making the exhibit. they are fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, with plastic lending contour to their faces and marbles for eyes.

A running start

Take off!

Bonk!

There are two other works on display as well, Illusion and Vortex:

Illusion II (2006)
The destruction of a small exploding house packed with fireworks, exploring the contradiction between beauty and violence.

Vortex (2006)
One of Cai Guo-Qiang’s gunpowder masterpieces, depicting thousands of wolves chasing one another in a ciruclar motion as if sucked into a vortex. The pack of wolves moves with grea tengery force and determination, simultaneously demostrating a perfect unity with organic power of the gunpowder.

About Cai Guo-Qiang
Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian, China. He was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy from 1981 to 1985. Cai’s work is scholarly and often politically charged. Cai initially began working with gunpowder to foster spontaneity and confront the suppressive, controlled artistic tradition and social climate in China.

Double Bonk!

A pile of wolves

A gun powder piece

While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, Cai explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and the development of his signature “explosion events,” artistically choreographed shows incorporating fireworks and other pyrotechnics. In 1995, he moved to New York with a grant from the New York-based Asian Cultural Council, an international organization to promote artistic exchanges between Asian countries and the United States.

Be sure to check out the displays before August!

And so the exams are over, the party’s out and I am back in Singapore for another type of party. I never saw myself coming home so soon, but time really flies. Looking back, the flight back was not too much of a killer too and I guess I have much of the airline on-board flight entertainment system to keep my sanity at bay. Think I am starting to get rather accustomed to the 13 hours odd long flight from London and it will be a journey I will see myself traveling more often these days, really beats the traumatic near 18 hour flights I’ve taken to the states.

On yes, I’ve visited few cool places before returning. Got the visit few of my favorite theme park attractions as well as catching some sights at the Lake District. The views there are spectacular! I will be posting a massive update of my holiday trip in the UK- that provided if I can actually find time to get all my photos and blog posts sorted, not to mention getting some panoramic photos stitched for the albums.

So what I can say after spending about a year abroad in UK? Well for starters I guess the environment is definitely different. I guess the same can be said for those in the states as well. The people abroad are more sociable, friendly and courteous. It’s surprising what you can end up chatting with a stranger at the pub, train, bus or even at the grocery check-out counter. This culture is literally non-existent in Singapore. Moreover, I’ve got to meet many people from all over the world in my college, picked french as a new language and survived my first year in college!

The thing which I really looked forward to upon my return is the food, my family and yes did I mention food? Eating out in the UK is ridiculously expensive, a plate of chicken or char siew rice in Chinatown London can set you back about $10SGD and it’s the same everywhere. The humidity is quite a killer here too, and just when I was really starting to love and appreciate the weather in the UK, it’s sweat town here again.

After more than a week back home, here are some minute observations I’ve made:

Singapore oh Singapore
- Place is not necessarily cleaner, but spit is more evident on the streets.
- The waiting time for public transport is very fast (30 mins min in UK)
- Will never cycle on the roads, motorists have no respect for cyclists here.
- MRT and bus rides reach their destinations trailblazing fast.
- It takes getting used to not greeting people in public (being more unfriendly)
- The urinals here are on average mounted 10-20cm lower. *Bends lower*

Language was a very interesting thing, not many people in the UK can actually understand Singaporean English- I was told we do have an ascent which is distinctively different of that of the Chinese nationals. It’s so unique that we even use it as a tool to sieve out the Malaysians and Singaporeans from a pile of Asians!

Time and again, I often see our British friends eve and awe at the simplicity of the sentences which completely made no sense in English but carried more weight than the few words we use to describe what we actually meant. “Got already?”

Nonetheless, the longer you stay abroad, you will start to pick up the proper English language and pronunciation, now it’s time to unlearn that and switch myself to Singaporean mode and just… Enjoy Lah!

Looking back over my blogging absence (and my backlog of blog draft which I never see myself getting typed out for publishing), yes alot had happened. Exams literally kept me in the library nearly 18 hours a day studying. Before that, May was a month full of events and birthdays & I was literally in London almost every other week.

So that might possibly be the reasons for the long lack of updates here. Seems the opportunity cost to blog got the better of me. Somehow, to make matters worst, I’ve caught on the Dr Who bug as well, not quite a particularly good time to start on a habit 2 weeks before the exams.

And yes I will be back in Singapore on the 22th June, with my flight planned on the 21st June. I do hope that the rush of humidity and tropics don’t catch me by too much of a surprise then, as I am starting to get real adapted to the temperate climate here.

More to come.

And so as told by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Soon after the news broke, we were informed that the next-generation iPhone would be announced on June 22nd (a Tuesday, naturally) and would be dubbed the iPhone HD (a name that has been tossed around before). That certainly makes sense given that Apple almost certainly has to up the pixel count in order to rival the EVO 4G, HD2 and all of those other high-res handsets, but we’re still reserving judgment until we see that fateful media invite hit our inbox.

There had been speculation of the phone spotting a 5 Megapixel camera as well, (a much needed improvement considering how bad the current 3.2MP camera is) given a large mysterious order for 5MP CMOS to a Chinese firm last year. The form factor will still remain largely the same, candy bar with a non-removable battery body. The only difference is just a bigger camera hole at the rear and a discreet video conferencing camera at the front near the earpiece, so as the pictured by the release of the 4th Gen internal housing shells by Chinese OEM mobile parts maker as few months back, where production could have already started.

WSJ’s John Gruber also weighed in with some more tidbits, in his characteristically polite way. Gruber says the next model will have an A4-class SoC, a 960 x 640 display, a front-facing camera, and that iPhone OS 4.0 will enable third-party multitasking. A pretty safe set of predictions, in all, but Gruber’s done pretty well in the past, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

And so I was at La Tasca Cambridge, for my 26th Birthday celebrations. It’s a treat and get together for everyone for a table of 9 collegemates. The Spanish food was good and so was the service, we also had a dedicated waiter throughout the serving. Had had the “Tapas to share”, which was an assortment of various Spanish al-la carte dishes including Paella (had been sometime since I’ve had Paella). I had a voucher for the Tapas at an astonishing 50% off for orders. Of course that excluding the Sangria which is essentially wine, grape juice with an assortment of fruit bits.

Shaun’s Birthday 2010

Got Cake?

Cut the Cake?

Apparently all vegetables are served as salads in Spanish cuisine, veyr much a welcome to compliment the ribs and various meat assortments as well. Oh yes, there was cake and a very large knife for the cake cutting too! Glad everyone had a fantastic evening!

Today is my birthday! Yay! *runs around rejoicing* It’s neat having it on the term break holidays so as you can really enjoy every single bit of this day which you can truly call your own day off!

And so this is my first time celebrating my birthday overseas in a new environment, but the party seems to be on a different continent! I won’t be expecting anything fancy this year here (so as not to keep my hopes too high yet). But hey I was lucky to receive stuff from home, particularly this neat birthday card my family had sent me.

Confusingly, I’ve started receiving birthday greetings and well-wishes from yesterday afternoon onwards, wondering whether people are getting ahead of themselves, only to realize that it’s already the 25th of march in Singapore (where it’s 8 hours later here). Ahha and so it was! Commendably too, I am surprised that some greetings came from Singapore spot on at 12 midnight London time (8am SGT) as well, that’s impressive! Sooo, guess that’s what you get for long distance birthday greetings, nonetheless still very cool. I am glad everyone remembered, does make you all warm and fuzzy thinking about it.

Definitely goes in hand as quoted in my card with niffy hand drawings by Sheena: “Although we may be miles apart, no distance is too far”.

How true.

Just some fun for thought, I’ve compiled a short list of some famous people celebrating their birthday today too. Well, of course maybe excluding the few other thousands around the world celebrating too, but hey of course am not the only one!

I once heard this anonymous saying: Cool people have their birthdays in march. As how flattering it can be, I guess there might be some truth in that remark based on general opinion- we march babies can be quite a fun bunch indeed!

Just as how I like to I always like to use the quote: A year older, a year wiser! I do hope the same can be said for me- I just tend to find myself rather too bogged up to actually get anything properly done these days, let be even working on my short term memory (I think the lack of coffee have to do with this). Having said that, to wrap it up here on this post, as tradition on my birthday, I will be dumping all my work for the day (something which I never see myself doing since school started) and taking a chill out for some quality work-free time.

Man this feels good, bring it on day!

Ah yes, so much for mentioning the British Museum & 39 Steps in the post title, actually the whole reason for me to be in London last Saturday was an invitation to a lunch seminar at Royal Garden Hotel organized by PS(D) for SAFOS, SMS, DMS and DSTA Scholars studying in UK. It was a rather small lunch event, held in one of the seminar rooms with an attendance of about 50 people tops filling up about 5 tables. The best part is that we had some form of “local cuisine” at the event, namely Laska, Char Kuay Teow, Siew Mai, Chicken Rice, not to mention a weird reproduction of Ice Kacang.

Nonetheless, got to meet catch up with familiar faces, not to mention meeting up with quite a number of new ones as well. There, I had an opportunity to voice some concerns over the lack of availability of first year internships for scholars, glad I got that cleared to big boss who was at the event to take note of any problems and suggestions.

The day just literally started after fueling up with the lunch buffet. With spring around the corner, it’s not usual to see anyone dressed with a shirt and suit walking round London- and that was literally my attire for the day! And I say, this suit was made for this weather- no way am I able to pull this in Singapore without even soaking through all my clothes in sweat.

The British Museum

The Great Court of the British Museum

Case Exhibits

My first stop was the British Museum, to meet up with some friends to do some planned figure and still life drawing on the statues. The museum is a short walk from Russel Square station and park. Going around London is quite a no brainer for me, even when visiting new places. In the worst case scenario, I will always have my phone’s GPS and tube map to guide me through. That Saturday was my 2nd consecutive weekend in London, I say, I am starting to get the hang of traveling through and fro between London and Cambridge through rail. A rail journey will set me back only 40mins on a high speed rail and it’s made more worth while with my railcard to boot the prices down. Definitely gone was my impression of long boring journeys so as I came to know of about from my first bus trip from London Heathrow airport to Cambridge.

The Greek section

The Egyptian Section

Walls of stone!

And so yes, the museum, you will be greeted by this huge glass sky roof upon entering the front doors. Known as the great court, this was a magnificent upgrade to the museum which was once to be an open air court yard surrounding the reading room. With only time to tour the first floor, the museum has quite an extensive of prominent Egyptian and Greek sculptures together with a collection of Chinese, Greece, Roman and Ancient Cyprus objects. The things which really stand out will be the Egyptian stone statues which is part of a theme the museum was showcasing at that particular time. These statues proved to be a rather popular piece with many artists seen littered all around the museum sketching the various poses and practicing anatomy drawing on their sketch books and canvases. Met up with my group and started drawing for about an hour until the museum closing time at 5.30pm. Time to meet my college mates for dinner!

We met up with my college mates together with some new friends studying in LSE at the station, they recommended this Korean joint near Totterham station called wu jung. The restaurant is like a typical 2 floored shop house which is no different to that of the 5-foot walkway stalls in Singapore. They serves some rather niffy Korean BBQ chicken and pepper mix which goes awfully nice with rice and the omelette sides we ordered. Having brought tickets the day earlier, we hit the tubes again after dinner towards criterion theater at Piccadilly circus to catch the musical for the night: 39 steps

Catching the 39 Steps muscial!

Piccadilly Circus at night

The criterion theater

39 steps the musical is based off an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1915 by William Blackwood and Sons. This theatrical adaptation by Patrick Barlow opened in London’s Tricycle Theater, and after a successful run, transferred to the present location here in Piccadilly. This comical version is exceptional and is really full of laughs, the thing which makes this carnation of the story unique is that it is only performed by a cast of only 4 actors and actresses, often with all of them, except for the protagonist playing multiple roles through the musical, which was really laughable in a way given the way they switch through the roles right on stage. No wonder the Broadway production received six Tony Award nominations, winning two—Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design with the London show winning an Olivier in 2007 and two Tony Awards in 2008. The play also won the Drama Desk Award, Unique Theatrical Experience. Recommended indeed.

My only gripe was that the tickets actually costed cheaper by buying them at the theater (£22.50- lucky for those in the group who wanted to join us at the last minute) compared to £29.50 per head when I initially brought them in bulk online. Despite being told that these £22.50 tickets are lower class tickets (usual £45 walk in rate), but they are indifferent and right on our seating row as well, go figure!

The play was 2 hours long ending 10pm. Would be planning to catch Avenue Q next. Then it’s a short train journey back thereafter to the Cambridge station and a cycle back to college by midnight to end a day well spent.

It was devastating, nine days after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake killed hundreds of people in south-central Chile, relief efforts were beginning to reach those in need, rescue missions became recovery missions, and rebuilding is already under way. In the days since the February 27th quake, nearly 150 aftershocks have been recorded, including thirteen above magnitude 6.0.

Despite the rush of humanitarian aid to all affected areas, the government has been criticized by Chileans, who say the response was slow and inefficient. One recent government action was to grant a short amnesty to looters before sending troops out in search of stolen goods. Nearly $2 million worth of looted items were returned, often dumped on roadsides, by Sunday.

Collected here are photographs from the past week in quake-affected Chile.

Credit – Boston.com, Read more: Chile, nine days later

Had some problems with my bank a few days ago. Apparently I was charged like 3 pounds from my account without any notice, clarified that with that at the branch and was told it was a stray bank charge and they immediately refunded the value in full. Scary!

Banks are different here and the bank’s online facility is quite unique from that back home in Singapore as well- yes we have to key in the bank pin and password each time you log on, the catch is that you are not allowed to enter the password in full, but rather key in 3-4 characters from your long passwords and pin based on their character position, mental!

And yes, the secure card reader don’t seem to have much use either. Why don’t they just use those 256-bit pin verification dongles? Buying stuff online works through the same verification method as well, but is not that “secure” as I expected it to be. Tried to purchase my oyster card online via the transport for London website, but the website kept telling me that the transaction was unsuccessful and to submit another. I assumed that I was not charged and the transaction didn’t go through due to a verification problem (you have to key in passwords, pin numbers, have the correct address etc), but my bank statement didn’t state otherwise- I was charged the full value of £23 (£20 value + £3 card value) each time even for a failed payment and was refunded only 2 times automatically from the website.

The bank representative explained little of the workings here on their debit cards, apparently every charge to a card successful or not will be treated as a point of sale transaction, only where the payment is verified where the card be actually charged. Go figure! but my bank balance don’t seem to be saying so!

I have to be more careful buying stuff online now, all these rouge charges are getting hard to keep track on!

It’s important but not Urgent!
With term ended a week ago, had about a whiff of freedom and lots to procrastinate, well so as it had been now. I remembered dreading the long days in lectures and supervisions of the previous term, always hoping for some breather off so I can consolidate and get work on track. Then I discovered what weekends are best used for. Well, till I wished they were longer as well as I never had enough time to get backdated work done and they always just end up in a viscous cycle, piling up almost no end in sight. That had to stop, one day. Then suddenly comes this offset of freedom.

Just like the fun and lightness of the new ice skating fair ground on Parker’s piece, this holiday felt strange, a direct contrast so unreal- no nagging alarms, dragging myself to make breakfast everyday in the dark and cycling at break-neck speeds to the department in time for lectures hoping not getting hit by traffic along the way. Go figure, well that’s life of a typical Cambridge university student.

Come to think about it, I had not actually got anything academic done till date. Spent much of the early week getting chores and dated freelancing projects settled. At least that is all done with a load off my chest so I can focus. It had been sometime since I’ve trained my brain to work on a schedule and I guess it’s not too late to get myself onto a stringent routine. So school work is next.

Holiday plans
Oh yes, I will be staying over in Cambridge for much of the holidays, most people I know will be heading back home for Christmas, but that’s something I find unjustifiable, let be costly for just a short 6 week vacation. On the contrary, I will be spending Christmas over with Aunt Jenny’s- she’s an old family friend in Hampshire who invited me over to spend Christmas with her family. Went around hunting for some gifts in town after sending Christmas cards home at the post office. After much consultation for an appropriate gift, finally settled for a niffy box of chocolates and a bottle of wine for them.

Now all I have to do is decide on my mode of transport there. I am very much torn between choosing the coach or train to get to Farnborough through London. Initially, I wanted to take the train to King’s Cross and London Underground my way to Victoria station or Heathrow to catch a connecting coach to Hampshire, it’s being the fastest and cheapest solution. The underground is cool, but I’ve not actually seen much of London myself, and I don’t want to pride myself having traveled London, but only in the tunnels!

So yup, that will be the coach for me there and keeping my options open for the underground trip back, which may not be a bad idea after all- I will be spending the new year’s and the countdown in the heart of London thereafter. Yay!

Woohoo better-than-dominos quality pizza with the same 2 for 1 offer in a restaurant, how else can it be better? Apparently it’s possible with coupons! and lots of them! Headed up to Pizza express situated near Jesus College with the gang for dinner recently, the chow down was definitely not possible without the website my friends discovered while hunting for the best food deals in town. This funky website goes by the name of Student beans and can be useful if you are a student on a budget here.

So apparently we all students entered this rather “posh looking” joint (which we all definitely looked out of place). It was rather hilarious when our “voucher mastermind” kept clarifying with the waiter there whether we can use those printed coupons off the net, before we ordered and even when we are paying, man it does adds to the cheapness which we students already have. But hey if you are asking for dinner on a budget that’s the least you can do. And hey at least the Pizza was great and so was the venue!

Last week was exceptionally busy, particularly with term coming to and end in about 1 weeks time. Time do pass rather fast when you are buried with work almost literally every day! I even do not have time to send out Christmas cards yet, despite having telling myself to send them weeks ago!

Nevertheless, some interesting things note over the past week was the rather unpredictable weather here at this time of the year. Strangely as I was told by my seniors, it usually do not rain as much as it does last year. This year is exceptionally “wet”. So as I come to learn the hard way as well.

I was caught in a downpour when cycling back from a from another college supervision about 2 weeks ago. I was literally drenched despite having much clothing on me, but that didn’t make much of a difference as they are all cotton and not water repellent! Dang! was that a night to remember, I was literally “sick” the following 1 and a half weeks after, not that I was down with a bad fever, but had those lingering symptoms which makes you feel horrible and won’t go away. I had a bad sore throat which slowly developed into a bad cough, (which proved rather interesting in developing the coughing chain-reaction in lectures). I am actually getting better now and so appreciate hot drinks now- something which I never did so back in tropical Singapore. It’s just wonders what a nice hot cup of green tea can do to not only soothe your throat but warm your day up as well.

“You always bring a jacket out in England!” So as I learned from a causal chat with my block cleaner when making breakfast one day in the kitchen. She’s a nice lady to chat with where she goes about her rounds in the morning sprucing up our rooms and common area. Interesting were her stories of how strong the wind gets here, it can get so gusty, it can literally smash windows or even blow your balance off your bicycle!

Ok, that much I have for this update, the rest of them can go in photos:

Touch the sundial!

Bike overload!

Everything tastes like chicken!

Oh yes, we had another cookout, this time with a group of Malaysians living round my block! We experimented with Maggi Goreng and had curry chicken as well! Just like food back at home here! whoa! The ride back home with the groceries for the cookout was rather interesting as well. Tested out the fancy new pannier bags I’ve brought from Amazon and they are really good to transporting loads off stuff on your bicycle. Full trolley visits to Tesco are a breeze now!

Meegoreng? Goreng!

Operation Chicken Lice!

The Meegoreng cookout gang!

Oh well, that is all for now. The weekend is here!

Ah, good old San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the world, only this showing how it looks like in the past, specifically set in 1905 before the big earthquake and fire of 1906. Well, besides the fact that this video is more than a century old and almost everyone you see in this video is not much among the living now, it’s still a blast into the past of how life was like back in the past which, in terms of organization with the exception of horse drawn carriages here and there, is not very much different from life we have today (and the exception of lack of vehicular control). Nevertheless still a fantastic city, through the eye of a camera on a cable car on this video.

And come to think about it, nothing much had changed in terms of how the city is still laid out today, specifically the trademark cable cars! This video really want to make me want to visit the place again. It also makes you wonder what things will be like 100 years from now and how people in the future will see us living today. Go figure!

In my latest email from home, it seems that there were some highlights and talk in Singapore of our PM Lee’s speech at Cambridge 800th anniversary gala dinner. Well not that I do not know of despite it happening within close proximity from where I am, but hey I have other things to worry about.

There was social last weekend at the CUMSA club (Cambridge University Malaysia and Singapore Association) and ironically it was actually founded by Lee Kuan Yew, LKY almost 60 years ago in 1948. Well not that I actually knew of it when I joined. Haha anyway, I kinda signed up as a lifetime member with the club. It was games night last Saturday and we had quite some ummmm fun, as you can see in the pictures, hey it’s a social event after all right?

Deck out the Wii!

Table games

And there’s always CS!

Besides the doses of fizzy drinks and oily fingers from food, it was largely a social event, we had games, Nintendo Wii, poker, card, board games and the best part (and why I was there) LAN gaming! Yea Counter-strike, DOTA and possibility L4D in the future as well. A fragfest it was, a much needed one too after a long week. Wahahaha I don’t think LKY envisioned his club as it being such as now, haha but at least we are keeping on with the times!

Food Alert!
Play hard? Also work hard! I was literally packed over the weekend, I had to submit a report and 2 example papers homework over the weekend, so I was relatively busy, so were the lack of updates as well. But that didn’t stop me from organising my first cookout over the last weekend! as well, that was earlier that same Saturday as well!

Turn this stuff

into THIS!

Yea! I love cookouts!

I initially wanted to prepare linguine with clams, but Saintsbury’s (aka their NTUC or cold-storage) was out of clam chowder, so I had to settle for beef stew with a vegetable mix instead of the sauce. Top it up with some smoked ham and going generous in helping some of my college mates finish up some soon-to-be-expired eggs. I prepared my first cookout!

Yea, a cookout for the gang as well. Ahah not bad for my first! I COOKED THAT Wahahah!
Oh yes, in short, that is pasta with beef stew, cabbage vege-mix, scrambled eggs, shredded ham and leafy vegetables, very wholesome!

Lastly on the weather, despite winter being quite far off, it gets cold enough here at night and in the mornings to “smoke from your mouth” when you speak. I think it hits close to freezing here at night, despite the meteorological services reporting 4-8 degrees. Nevertheless, I am still getting on the temperatures here very well, strangely being clad most of the time wearing only 2 layers of top clothes with single layer jeans and shoes. I should be able to handle winter with not much problems. The only problem is that your hands do get only very cold after awhile when outdoors, especially when you are cycling, but gloves always help!

No one seems to wear slippers of sandals out here, unlike what I do everytime in Singapore, maybe I should actually dress less sloppily?