Tokyo trip 2008 - Day 1

Finally getting down to documenting my trip. Was waiting to upload my photos onto Flickr first so that I can create links.

Didn't do much on Day 1 except fly to Tokyo. There wasn't much in-flight entertainment and I caught Mamma Mia again. 1 thing about the programme guide was that it didn't give you the channels so I had to browse to check out which shows were on what channels and also which language it was in. Hmm...maybe I should feedback to ANA.

After touch-down, we took the airport limousine (which was essentially a coach) to Shinjuku JR station. It was less than a 2 hours ride and generally, V & I just dozed on it due to the lack of sleep we had on the plane.

As advised by V's friend, we flagged a cab to send us to our hotel. Unfortunately, the cabbie didn't really know the address and we couldn't really communicate. However, we managed to get there eventually when I exclaimed "Here! Here!" on passing it. Later, as we ventured out, we realised that it's actually a straight road down to the station, about 5-10 minutes walk.

As the check-in time was 3pm, and we reached about 10plus am, we left our luggage with the reception and went out to meet V's friend who brought us to this tempura place at the basement of Odakyu, Shinjuku. We got good seats at the counter and could watch the chef kill & clean the live eel that we ordered. It was a set actually, and the tempura included prawns, veggies, fish & the eel. The set cost about 2,000 yen. The tempura was served as & when it was cooked, so it was really fresh.

After lunch, we ventured to some UFO machines shop and tried our luck. I lost count of the amount of money we spent on these, it was addictive as we found it hard to give up when we were this close to getting the item. I managed to grab 1 item.

Isn't it cute! I call it my 流口水 dollie.

After having fun at the machines, it was back to the hotel to do our check-in. We stayed at Oakwood Shinjuku, which was quite a decent place. Though small, the apartment had everything, from a small kitchenette, a washing machine, a bathroom with both a shower area & bathtub (and also interesting features), a balcony and a 37-inch LCD TV! which provided us with our nightly entertainment before we slept each night. With rates at 13,000 yen per night, I think it was quite worth it given the convenience of the place and the amenities. There was also free Internet access at the business centre located in the basement.

After checking in and doing some unpacking & settling down, we went out for a short walk round the area and also grab dinner. Dinner was on the way back at this fast food stall that had those vending machine ordering system. I had a katsu don, which wasn't too bad except maybe a tad too salty for me.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night as we were really tired after the flight. We actually slept before 10 pm! Knocked out the moment we lay on the fluffy bed.

National Geographic Store & more

Taking up the entire space of the Spanish corner, the recently opened National Geographic store spans a huge area with books, exhibits, clothes & more. 

Check out the photography exhibition.

Twilight

I have this thing about vampires and although am not really into teen movies, well, guess the vampiric temptation was too great to contain.

Before my comments, I would say I liked the show. You can sense the intensity between the 2 lovers. The lead actress was pretty and the actor, not too bad too, being tall & brooding.

However, for a vampire show, I would say there's not much blood-sucking action or blood for all that matter (maybe because it's a teen flick or they censored it?) and it was really focusing on the love story of the 2 leads, the contention of the love between a vampire and a human being. So for that "vampire" flavour, it was lacking; the vampire part was more like a "setting" for the love story to develop, if you know what I mean. The adversary was too easily killed off as I believe the main purpose of that part was purely to make us see if Edward would allow Bella to become a vampire or try to save her at the risk of killing her (the blood temptation). I've never read the book, so am not sure if it depicted the same.

Well, I guess my image of vampire stories, that are truly enticing, is based on my readings of Anne Rice. Her vampires really "seduce" and you are drawn into a vampire world which seems real and inviting (unfortunately, some took it too seriously). Her Vampire Lestat series was the best. Although I've stopped reading for 1 reason or another (I think she doesn't write vampire stories any longer), I would say many have tried to follow in her footsteps as her vampires were different...supposedly descended from Eygptian origins and the way vampires were made, the powers they had, how those made were chosen (usually beautiful), etc.

New earphones

After much deliberation. Finally picked this over the Apple in-ear earphones. It's more expensive (about twice) but supposedly has better sound quality. Fortunately I had 10% off.
It's pink! Would have liked a red one to match my iPod cover, but pink's cute too.
An early Christmas present for myself!

W!ld Rice's Snow White

I love Singapore's parodical musicals! Especially W!ld Rice's.

I watched their Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs last night and it was hilarious. I must say that it is one of their most daring portrayal with their blatant references to the political scene throughout the show. E.g. the voting results, the unending reign of a certain important person, the environment, etc. Other funny things included the milk scandal & corny actions (with sound effects) and lots of "drag". There were some references to certain Disney movies, like the Enchanted where Snow White came out to start singing and the animals started appearing. Then there were the dancing animals. They even had some Wall-E aspect in it like having all the rubbish cubed.

The songs & singing were quite good, especially Sebastian Tan (the Queen) & Elena Wang (Snow White) and there were interactive parts like the characters asking the audience questions.

Truly enjoyed the show despite my flu. Even bought the soundtrack. It runs till 20 Dec, so better grab your tickets now if you have not!

New feature on MRT

Finally, an indicative system.

Songcraft's 2nd Annual Mini-concert

I survived my first (singing) solo performance! Had a friend to play the piano for me while I sang my song "Will You Sing Again". I knew I was nervous coz I was trying very hard to recall my lyrics and afraid I would forget them! Well, got a little out of breath along the way too. Phew! The last time I did a solo performance (Songcraft sessions not counted) was more than 10 years ago at my piano teacher's annual "Musical Night", which was also like a mini-concert for families of her students at her house. Recalled I played the piano 1 year and the violin for another.

It was a good concert. The songs were great, all originals from my Songcraft friends and the venue was full house! Though just family & friends, but it was a good crowd, more than last year's. Most importantly, we enjoyed ourselves.

The only thing that disappointed me a teeny little bit was that a couple of my friends didn't turn up at the last minute, not that they could help it. Well, one was down with a bad virus while another was having mild food poisoning, and another had some other programme. So unfortunately, none of my friends came. Ok ok...I admitted that I only invited very few coz also a bit paiseh. Well, guess they would have to wait for the video. Looking forward to that.

The intricacies of violin making

I attended a little afternoon talk on violin making, organised by the SSO Learning Circle (of which have recently been revived) and presented by luthier (i.e. violin maker) Mr. Andreas Franke.

Before I go on, a short note about SSO Learning Circle. It's a group of people who are friends of SSO and gather once in a while to share about classical music. It had been "dormant" for the last 2 years, but has started to become active again it seems. As for Mr. Franke, he is one of the luthiers of Frank Brothers Violins (the violin shop at Esplanade), a craftsman of the 4th generation luthier family.

Ok. back to the session. This the first time I know of certain aspects of the violin and also the engineering science & precision that goes into building one. There was talk of some history of violins, like why nowadays, one can't make a violin as good as the old ones. Some interesting points...

A violin, being made of organic material will get seasoned over time and as it gets played by different people, it ages differently. The tonality of the organic violin will change - each such violin will sound different. However, those that are not made of wood will always sound the same and also, mass produced.

In the Baroque age, violins actually had straight necks as compared to now and a different bow (much like the shape of a bow in the context of bow & arrow). It was harder to play and secure on the neck. Now, violin necks are made angled. This actually causes more tension in the strings and it also enables the sound of the violin to be better projected/amplified.

Interesting, in the olden days, the strings were made from sheep gut!

Also, the violin is usually made up of different types of wood. The backing & ribs are usually made of maple while the top is made of spruce, due to the different hardness of the wood to be able to create a sounding board in the violin. I never knew that there was such a complex internal transmission system! As one plays on the violin, the vibration gets transmitted through the bridge to some sort of connector in the violin (forgot the name for that part) and travels inside violin laterally, vibrating throught the internal body of the violin. Even the weight of the bow counts in the way one would play and how the music would sound.

The best part was the end, where a demo was done on a few Italian violins that Andreas brought. They were of different market values, ranging from Euro 115K to Euro 170K (old violins) and one at SGD 48K for a new Italian violin. I could tell why the most expensive one there that day was priced as such. The moment I heard it, it pulled at my heart strings, unlike the rest (not that they were not good). It was beautiful, like your heart was singing with the violin.

Ah...the violin. The perfect instrument. Must go & season my violin soon, though mine can't compare to those seen today.

Singapore Biennale 2008 (Part 2)

Finally found time to drop by South Beach Development for a look at the exhibits.
On the whole, there were less exhibits and maybe it wasn't the kind I liked as much...think I was more or less going "huh?" at the exhibits. Not many things to excite me really, but maybe it was that there wasn't aircon? And the strange smell of the place. Honestly, I think there were too many video installations there that were, well, like normal short films/documentaries. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like sitting through them. It was quite different when I saw the City Hall video installations. It was visually more artistically done I feel, if you know what I mean.

Overall, I preferred the City Hall exhibits. more interesting & impactful to me...maybe they were more "loud"? And maybe, it was more distinguishable as visual art. Maybe I'm more conservative and a traditionalist towards art. Maybe also becoz I had a friend with me when I went to City Hall?

Anyway, here are some shots.

Sing To The Dawn - the animation movie

I had initially not wanted to blog about the movie coz I would feel rather guilty about slamming a local film. But as I gave a comment in my friend's blog, I guess I had more or less the entry ready, so I've decided to "reproduce" it here.

After the not-so-good reviews given, I went with little expectations. If I had not liked the book or if my friend weren't the one who did the scoring, I would have given it a miss. Honestly, I feel that locally, animation film has not reached "there" yet.

I recall at some point in the show (I think rather early on), I had already formed in my mind, or rather, said to myself that “this seems like it’s going to be a crappy show!” Sad to say, I was sorely disappointed in the show. To think they spent 7.5 milliion on this?! Well, MAYBE when they started on it the effects & stuff were ok. But after 4 years, it has probably become outdated.

Hmm…I won’t say it totally destroyed the book coz it wasn’t even close to it. It was probably, at the most, 5% similar to the book and it took the focus away from the issue the book was addressing, i.e. the biases of society against females. I would think Minfong Ho would be offended. I felt the script or the editing was...how do I put it?

What with the many eyebrow-raising moments - animals singing, live broadcast "web TV", kungfu fantasies and foreign accents, I would give it a rating of 1 out of 5.