2011 Year End Reflections

With only one more day left to the year 2011, it's that time again to reflect on what was, is, and will be :) and I was just looking back at my 2010 post and realised that I said the exact same thing -.-" Shows my personality didn't undergo any major change >.<"

Looking back, the year 2011 has brought quite a few milestones for me..

Early in 2011, I was elected into the Malaysian Lasallian Youth Commission, which brought a term of two years. However, due to a new rolling system implemented this year, boy and I will only be holding one year each, after which we will pass on the flame to other FT members.

Lim Kok Wing: Creativity in Motion

Last Saturday, I had the privilege to be invited to a Fashion Show organised by Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology at Publika in Solaris Dutamas.

The Fashion Show was to congratulate their graduating class of Fashion and Retail Design students. The term's 18 designers showed off collections drawing from different types of inspiration, such as Arabic Abayas and Japanese Samurais amongst others.

My Little Merry Christmas 2011

To all my friends who celebrated Christmas yesterday,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas for many is a time to celebrate Jesus' birth, gifts under the tree, and gatherings with family and close friends. For me, Christmas is a time to count my blessings, reflect on what I've been through, and be thankful.

This Christmas, I celebrated with bb, and some close blogger friends :)

Early in the night, when we got into the car and he started driving, he didn't want to let me know where he was taking me, and all through the car ride I was wondering where we were going..initially I thought we were headed back to his house cos he took that way, and my first thought was, "He's gonna cook indomee for our Christmas dinner?"

But he passed by the house thankfully and drove on to Chow Yang..and my second thought sprang to mind "Hmmm makan Chilli Pan Mee for Christmas??"

BUT he passed it and headed out to the LDP, after which I thought "Maybe go Sunway"

But then he made a U-turn and then I'm lost -.-" so I just decided not to try to guess where he's gonna take me, and just enjoy the ride..

Review: UFO Desserts

There have been a spate of dessert houses and bubble tea shops mushrooming up around KL recently..

A few weeks ago I got invited to a food review at UFO Desserts & Drinks, ss2. UFO Desserts’ signature desserts include the UFO Classic, UFO Lemon Ai-Yu, Ocha Ocha and Matcha Special. They serve many special and interesting bubble teas and desserts, some of which looks familiar to Snowflake and Chatime.

They have this special ufo like thingy that most probably lends its name to the name of the store.

Review: Malaysian Girls - How Ugly Can It Get?

This year has already been dominated by many dramatic theatrical performances like Dreamgirls, Kampung Boy the Musical, and STOMP! amongst others. Now, with the year coming to a close, KLPAC is proud to present their last major theatrical play/ musical for 2011, Malaysian Girls :)

Thanks to Dustyhawk, a few of us bloggers got to catch this Musical at KLPAC on its Opening Night. It began on 10 December 2011, and will run until 30 December 2011, followed by a tour to Penang. Malaysian Girls is the product of an award-winning team led by esteemed director Joe Hasham OAM along with producer and theatre doyenne Dato’ Faridah Merican.

Review: We R Malaysia There is Hope The Musical

Thanks to sd, I was invited as a Plus One to the We R Malaysia There is Hope Musical two weekends ago. This musical was organised by Persatuan Perintis Bina Negara Melaka (PPBN) to create a platform for engaging the next generation in nation building. The basic idea of the musical is on how Malaysia is our home and how most of us under appreciate this nation. (credit to Choulyew)

When we arrived, we were greeted by Erin from Very Imaginative People, and given front row seats to the musical. As you would know by now, I am a big fan of musicals and would jump at any chance to watch musicals (provided it's within my monetary limits of course).

When we were waiting for the musical to begin, there was a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that this might have some patriotic propaganda thingy running along the undertones of the script. I was not disappointed.

The musical basically started with a history lesson by this dude..

 ??????

Good effort done here, but the tables were not removed at all for the entire first half of the musical even though they do not serve any proper purpose :/

Methinks this dude was totally unnecessary

Aloysius, Jason and Ah Xiong in London, debating about migrating back to Malaysia

My verdict of the musical:
1. Storyline was very messy. There was abrupt jumping from era to era with irrelevant scenes, irrelevant people, and no proper introductions.

2. Given the timeframe of two months, I was disappointed at the level of acting and props and stage set. The English used could have been better as well. Who in their right mind would put "Jason Back" on screen to show that Jason had returned from London?!? There are other words in the English language that you can use.

3. Songs were good, and vocalists were not bad. None of them made me wana stand up and dance though :/

4. The stage is set in Malaysia, and yet, I noticed only one Malay person in the entire play. Are you saying that living in Malaysia, the Chinese community will only mingle with the Chinese? Where is 1Malaysia in all this?

Rating: 2/5 I don't think enough effort was being put into this musical as there are many many things that can be accomplished in two months. There was too much brainwashing involved, and when I questioned them at the pseudo-press conference after the musical, their acting PPBN President went all defensive, and answered me with a curt response, which I think was pretty unnecessary :/

Food Review: Onde Onde at Waterfront Desa Parkcity

Few weekends ago, some of us bloggers were invited to a food review at onde onde, Desa Parkcity.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Muiz, the manager there and ushered to a cosy corner of the shop. Nestled in the lake fronting shoplots of Desa Parkcity, onde onde focuses on bringing scrumptious Nyonya and local delights to residents in the neighbouring housing areas, and prides themselves on their authentic serving of local delights.

We were served with their signature coffee (RM2.80, add 10cents for Iced coffee) using ground coffee which is sourced from a traditional family roster in Ipoh; and being a coffee lover, I appreciated the fragrant aroma and distinguished taste. There was none of the overbearing ground coffee aftertaste,or margarine residue and it went down smooth. :)

 One of their specialty drinks are the Japanese Cucumber Sour Plum Juice (RM5.90) which gave me a refreshing feeling. It was light without being tasteless, and not too heavy to the point of overbearing. The sour plum added a nice touch to the drink.

Being a Malaysian, who wouldn't know the traditional Kaya toast? This is the Grilled Toast with Home-Made Duck-Egg Kaya and Butter (RM2.80) Couldn't really taste the duck-egg (don't even know if I should have tasted it), but it's an interesting concept :D

 

Their Signature Asam Laksa (RM9.90), with a whole mackerel in it. They use family recipes passed down from generations and there was not much difference to the taste of the authentic Penang Asam Laksa that I had when I was in Penang, so I would say it really is one of their signature dishes.

Prawn Noodles ('Mee Yok') (RM9.90) A little too salty for my liking, but if you have an affinity for it, then this is the dish for you :)

 

As the name suggests, onde onde has 20 Nyonya ‘kuih-muih’ varieties, and we were treated to two of them. We couldn't try the others as they were all sold out already, even their namesake, the Onde Onde >.<

 

 They also have specially-designed combo sets which allows consumers to taste 2 food items at any time and it comes paired with side dishes, and a complimentary nyonya kuih. The one we tried was the Combo B, with Special Fried Rice and Curry Laksa (RM15.90)

 

 Signature onde onde Durian Dessert (RM7.90). This is for all durian and cendol lovers out there :) Point of Note: their ‘Gula Melaka’ are sourced from none other than Melaka, so you don't have to purposely make a trip to Melaka Jonker 88 for some of that Gula Melaka Cendol, you can get it right here at onde onde :D

Upon stepping into onde onde, one will be attracted to its striking pink and turqouise walls which are lined with antique Nyonya pottery, porcelain and decoratives. Nyonya folk painting is also featured prominently on wall murals and furniture, giving the restaurant a cosy and alluring ambience.


So if you have a weekend to spare and feel a wanting for Nyonya food, do head over to onde onde at Waterfront Desa Parkcity to satisfy your cravings. onde onde is opened 7 days a week, from 9am-10pm on weekdays.

onde onde
GF-3A Ground Floor, Waterfront @ Parkcity
5 Persiaran Residen, Desa Park City 52200
Kuala Lumpur
Telephone: +60 3 6280 7419

Aladdin the Musical: Part 2

Remember this post I wrote about “Aladdin the Musical” awhile back? *click*

Managed to catch it on Dec 2nd thanks to Baby who brought me. :) I was actually pretty excited to go for it since I caught Peter Pan last year and Magical Musicals show earlier this year, and wanted to compare notes. Also because Yew kept going on and on about how great it was and how it’s a MUST WATCH for musical fans out there >.<

Our tickets to the musical :) Ticket says Blue Zone, but we were ushered to the Red Zone when we got there :D

Being a BIG fan of musicals, I will analyse the musicals that I’ve watched, and see how it compares to previous musicals in the past. So after watching and analysing it, here’s my verdict:

It’s a fresh concept to use real animals for the marketplace scene, however I don’t think it’s entirely new. Perhaps that was used earlier in other musicals, but I guess that would be a first in musical history for Malaysia.

The dancers look very professional and ‘keng’ from far away (I was sitting in the Blue Zone for both PP and MM so I thought they were pretty good), but when you’re sitting in the Red Zone (which is nearer), you see the flaws, and the uncertainties in their dance steps, so they were probably not as good as I thought they were :/ Also the steps are VERY recycled. I see the same kind of steps for all three musicals! :(

This is the first dance scene, not very clear here, but they're wearing long dresses, which wasn't appropriate cos there was a lot of footwork going on :/ and the dresses got caught quite a few times

The costumes are pretty elaborate, and it does make some of the cast look bigger than they are in real life. More thought has to be given to the wardrobe for the cast and dancers. Like, the first dancing scene, the costumes for the female dancers actually made it harder for them to dance. I know, cos I was a dancer, and I can see them struggling to get it (the costumes) out of the way.

Jaafar was great as the villain, and being able to sing in that evil nasally voice for an entire song was awesome though I didn’t really like the song that much and didn’t think it fit with the theme of the musical.

I love the flame throwers. They’re awesome! :D

The genie was a little too hyper for his own good. But it was a very good effort on his part cos he managed to liven up the mood of the musical. I loved how he always made an entrance.

The flying carpet scene was a little FU cos the strings holding the carpet up was super visible, and the transition of the heights was very jerky, so it threw off the romantic mood that it was trying to achieve. Sidenote: KLCC and Sunway Lagoon sign as a backdrop is a no-no.

Perhaps the organizers should reconsider their branding exercise in the musical. Just mentioning ‘Sunway Lagoon’ halfway during a scene is enough to put the audience off, and throw them in fits of laughter for some and unappreciated mirth for others.

The fake snow and bubbles were a nice touch to end the show, but then again, I could be biased, cos I love bubbles :p

Vocals wise, I wished they could have chosen better vocalists. They are good, but not good enough. MM was better.

If I had to rate this, I would give it a 3/5. Some parts are good, and some can be improved, and I definitely gave them points for effort. Comparing to their two predecessors, I would say it’s definitely better than PP and MM. Not to be too critical, but as a fan of musicals, there is definitely more room for improvement for this particular one.

If you have kids, by all means, bring them along for the musical. It’s actually pretty good fun for the kids. When I was there, there was this group of ten-year-olds in front of me, and they were having a ball of a time! 

See how excited they are? :D

If you want to go for the musical, go for the pure joy of experiencing it with friends and/ or loved ones. Don’t be too critical, otherwise you will find yourself growling when you’re out of the amphitheatre cos you paid a sum for it.



~~~~
The musical will be running from 25th November 2011 - 2nd January 2012.

Time : 8.00pm (Sun-Fri), 7.15pm and 9.15pm (Sat 25th Dec 2011 and 1st Jan 2012)
Venue : The Amphitheatre at Sunway Lagoon

Ticket Pricing :
Adults - RM300, RM250, RM200, RM100
Children - RM150, RM120, RM100, RM50

For enquiries, contact Sunway Lagoon at 603-5639 0000. Related links are provided below.

http://www.sunwaylagoon.com/
http://www.facebook.com/sunwaylagoonMSIA
http://twitter.com/#!/sunwaylagoon1



*Pics aren't that great or many cos I was using my BB's cam. Might steal some from Baby when he posts his up :p I want to put up pics of  Jaafar, Aladdin and Jasmine and realised I didn't have any -.-"

Movie Review: The Muppets

Thanks to Churp Churp, I had the privilege of watching the Muppets last night :)

It's time to meet the Muppets....

Storyline: It was a pretty typical storyline, where there’s this typical evil dude who wants to destroy the Muppets Theatre, and typically, the Muppets get together to try to raise money to save the Muppets Theatre. Wouldn’t spoil the ending for you, but as I said, it’s pretty typical, so if you’re a typical kinda fella, you’ll know the ending already >.<

We were not disappointed, as there were many trademark Disney traits, firstly being the songs, which are expected of a Disney production. A lot of care and thought has been put into the lyrics, the tunes are catchy without being too boring, and the dance moves are refreshing. There was quite a lot of attention to detail, one of which they had a small change in population when they left the town, and another showing Kermit when he had to swallow a gulp. The creativity was also unexpected, where they could ‘travel by map’, a new alternative to travelling the conventional way.

 This is Miss Piggy, who is my favourite Muppet :D drama queen that she is, she is good in what she does, so she can afford to act all hoity toity. While I don't hope to be all high and mighty one day, I do hope to be the best in what I do :D

 Try to spot all of them in the movie :D

I think the best was still the cameo appearances though :D Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw the one and only Jim Parsons (of the Big Bang Theory fame) appear on screen. The whole cinema was pleasantly surprised, and Baby was laughing so hard beside me :p Being TBBT fans, we could appreciate the humour, and enjoy the moment.

Verdict: All in all, at the end of the day I would give it a 4/5 rating. It’s a family movie to watch with your kids, with loved ones, or with friends, with a little tinge of lighthearted romance thrown in between Jason Segel and Amy Adams.

It will be out on 8th December, so go catch it! :)