Korea Flavour Fiesta

There is a big Korea Festival in Singapore right now, and Jack & I went. Well actually, I sort of surprised Jack because I told him to go to a secret location (Vivocity - which, incidentally, is the largest mall in Singapore ^.^) and then I took him up to the third level. It actually goes until today, but Saturday was the first day (and opening ceremony for the entire Festival).

Lots of fun with Jack! We looked at pictures of food, food that you weren't allowed to eat...

...like my favorite...JAPCHAE!!!!!!! YUM YUM YUM



Due to four seasons, there are different types of foods served each season (TOTALLY AWESOME!!)

Summer Foods

Spring Foods

Autumn Foods

Winter Foods

...bought some Korean grapes (which were a bit too sour for my expectations of deliciousness)...


...grape-stained fingers... :(



...watched a Taekwondo demonstration (and there might have been a 5-year old boy who i MIGHT have wanted to kidnap...and take home...SO CUTE!!!)...



...female drummers...



...female drummers and a b-boys dance routine (breakers).

very long, awesome day!

Today was a very busy day. The more detailed & photo-ed is in the food blog (because the focus was clearly food today), but I will list what I did briefly:

1. Met a friend for a day of spontaneity at Vivocity
2. Dragged him to the Korea Food Fiesta hosted by the Korean Embassy
3. Bought Korean grapes. Ate half
4. Watched the opening ceremony. At least, the interesting bit
5. Went back into Vivocity (the largest mall in Singapore) to look for food
6. Saw that Secret Recipe was in the mall, decided to eat there
7. Was mostly disappointed with the Chicken Cordon Bleu but delighted by the Belgium chocolate cake "Chocolate Indulgence", which also happens to be the owner's favorite
8. Went back to the KFF, watched the drummers, break dancers, taekwondo demonstration (& dance to Korean techno/pop...music -_-)
9. Tried to watch a movie, but the seats were bad, so we decided not go to see Tropic Thunder
10. Went to Orchard (Wisma Atria) to get a needed haircut.
11. Went to Amirah's Grill in Arab St. for chicken kebab! Yum! And strawberry juice and hummus + Pita!!!!
12. Played pool and lost like it was my job.
13. Met up at The Chamber with other friends to watch Manchester United v. Hull [Tigers] game. I thought that the stripes meant the mascot was a bee, not a tiger! hahahahaha!

14. spent a lot of time writing/editing my blog for the foodhappiness :p

15. going to sleep now! night night!

123people.com

123people.com scares the bejesus out of me. It is a website where you go and search for information on anyone. Baby is lucky because there are lots of clueless people out there like her. But Bunny is special, and she cannot hide as well. So bunny deletes her other accounts that she doesn't use. la.

so yeah I just heard about the German Film Festival in Singapore (www.goethe.de/singapore), and I'm really excited about some of the films that they are showing starting next week! Of COURSE, most of them stem from WWII and the Holocaust, which sadly I am history illiterate and ...not necessarily turn a blind eye at all but just that I don't like to watch depressing movies. Or, for that matter, any type of scary film.

But there are a few I am keen to see: (oh shoot, I just used the word "keen" o_o) [summaries taken from the goethe.de website]

1. The Counterfeiters (which won the 2008 Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film)

Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, it fictionalizes Operation Bernhard, a secret plan by the Nazis during the Second World War to destabilize the United Kingdom by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England currency. The film centers on a Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, who is coerced into assisting the Nazi operation at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The film is based on a memoir written by Adolf Burger, a Jewish Slovak typographer who was imprisoned in 1942 for forging baptismal certificates to save Jews from deportation, and later interned at Sachsenhausen to work on Operation Bernhard. It won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 80th Academy Awards in 2008.
Source: 57. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue) / www.wikipedia.com

2. The Wave ("loosely-based" on a short book that I recommend reading)

The Wave is loosely based on the real experience of an American high school class in 1967. History teacher Ron Jones (Jürgen Vogel, in a standout performance) attempted to teach his pupils the realities of fascism and how easily an ideology of superiority can take root. The movement became so popular that the life of the whole school was affected. Director Dennis Gansel fashions an energetic, gripping drama that goes straight for the veins--the human psychologies and individual behaviours that contribute to collective movements. In unpeeling the emotional layers and contradictions of his characters, Gansel offers a humanistic perspective on the terrifying irony that these students may welcome the very things they denounce.
Source: Sundance Festival

3. The Vow

The Vow was inspired by the old sentimental ballad of the same name. Stripped to its essentials, the story concerned the "forbidden" romance between a monk and a nun. Though the monk never declares himself, he writes innumerable love songs dedicated to the nun. Upon his death, the songs are discovered -- and, out of respect to the sacred vows taken by both hero and heroine, those songs are buried in the same coffin with the love struck monk. When originally presented in New York, The Vow was provided with a "live" accompaniment by baritone Raymond Ellis, violinist Adi Duam, and organist Nelson Spreckling.
Source: All Movie Guide

4. Rabbit without ears (GASP!!!!!!)

Blessed with virile bravado and unshakable self-confidence, muckraking reporter Ludo (Til Schweiger) usually gets the interviews. All goes well until he lands in big trouble in the midst of a celebrity party and is sentenced to 300 hours of social work in a pre-school nursery. Expecting it to be child's play, Ludo is in for a big surprise when he discovers that the place is run by Anna (Nora Tschirner), whom he enjoyed making malicious fun of in their primary-school days. Now Anna is ready to take revenge. Mercilessly. Resolutely. Adorably.
Source: http://thecia.com.au

So there are a total of about 30 movies (some are shown twice because they are more acclaimed).

So the fourth one is definitely a romance of sorts, I suspect. It's good to have laughs once in a while. And a good cry, but that is for another time :)

And over the weekend I got a TON of sleep ^.^ and watched Max Payne (which is just OK).

And I was sad to hear that Terrence Howard has been DROPPED!!!!!!! from Ironman 2. what the heck? OH MAN. That is sad.

I'm thinking about starting a blog specifically about the food I eat in Singapore. I'm not sure yet. And what about one where I make comments about celebrities? Haha.


Oh yes, and Friday is Halloween, which really isn't celebrated in Singapore. :( But it's all right. I was never one to dress up once I hit that certain age anyways.

I had a dream that I was back in high school. Weird. Out of the blue!

OK WHAT ELSE? I started taking gymnastics classes again, and my body has not forgiven me yet. I am going again tomorrow night, but at least I make new friends ^.^!!!!!

OK adventures.....this weekend I hope that I can get some sort of TAN because I am a pale pale girl who uses Clarisonic (which keeps your face uber pale man........UBER PALE). But since it has been especially cloudy, we'll see.

I'm thinking about going to Bali (Indonesia) around Christmas time ^.^ with some friends! YIPEE!

love,
sansies

I Love Lorie Line!

Goodness me! It’s been a while. So Wednesday I went to a “programme” by the Singapore International Photography Festival to Jim Orca’s talk “21st Century and Beyond: Images Transcending Culture”, which was quite a name for a half interesting/half boring talk. But he has done a lot for the community. He is a commercial photographer by trade, but he’s used his photography to help himself connect to people – as well as use his photography to connect different worlds together.
One of his projects is for the World Toilet Organization, which is for promoting sanitation (and buying toilets, I presume) for the poorest parts of the world. Another project was for a school that is for ex-convict/juvenile delinquents that want a second chance and go back to school. He had a model who actually was a student, and he did a lot of “breaking free” motifs as well as interesting (sometimes a tad more obvious than suits my personal tastes, but it’s ok) schemes. I wish that he sold some of the pictures as t-shirts  promoting a good cause while supporting it as well. I really like how he has a ‘resurrection’ theme while the body actually made the outline of an up-arrow.
The other thing (while bringing up the movie Born in Brothels) was going to teach Indian children of various ages to shoot photography (and I believe how to use the Internet as well) with use of a translator.
Even though another talk I went to (Institute of Critical Zoologists) was quite creative and definitely an eccentric perspective, I think that Jim Orca’s work has moved me more. I actually decided today to try to be a nicer person (but only to strangers). I helped a girl (who later turned out to be Korean, who knew?) get her tray for lunch today. Small, but I guess since I had nothing else to think about during lunch, why not?

This weekend was pretty pretty crazy. Friday night I met up with some of my friends for dinner. Then I met my Indonesian friend (who was here for a wedding) and we hung out first at New Asia Bar (VIPs again....^.^) and then we went out to ButterFactory as well.
On Saturday...yes I spoiled myself like crazy. I got a massage and then a facial at this cute little place in Adelphi (it only cost $113 for three hours!!!). I am definitely going back!! And bringing my friends!! Then I bought a bunch of makeup (because I need to start wearing makeup for work...oh man)...from Make Up For Ever (used by lots of make-up artists, apparently). We had a lot of fun with the make-up artist, and I will need to go back (though I did spend a whopping amount there) do learn how to do more fun eyes (i totally just bought one nude colour...color...color.....:p).

So then met up at Supper Club (which was completely amazing) with my friend + his “indo” friends for some fun; then I went home, and slept like a log.

Sunday was more subdued. Met SH at Orchard to buy some art supplies at Art Friend in Takashimaya (after sharing some Jampong(?) [spicy Korean seafood noodle soup] and japchae [my favourite]) that favourite was intentional ok?! Then we went back to her place, and i painted like there was no tomorrow, and my painting is ok, but I learned two important things: (1) paint the background first and (2) sketch or else everything looks lopsided. Don’t worry, I have no chance at becoming the next amazing painter because definitely cannot paint fine details like them. I don’t have an inherent grasp of color and light yet.

My husband ^.^ (good friend) drew me a picture with watercolour pencils....i laughed a lot, but it actually is very nice because he used the Chinese calligraphy strokes. Then Sunday night we went out to eat some CRAB (OH SO DELICIOUS ......drool.........droooooooooool.......-wipe-) and then play some pool (my ‘husband’ played with me and made me feel better about myself, so i played better this time than last time :p.

Don’t worry, my so-called husband is not my boyfriend. No boyfriend for me! He is a very good friend though (we go to the bookstore together because I cannot go with my tinkers anymore...) (tear). I tinkled my friend’s piano, and I’m about to go buy some sheet music I think (from some place in Orchard sometime later this week) so that I can have a good time running the fingers around. The tone is vaire close to m. Hasbrook’s old one. But out of tune as well. :p just old and antiquey...
I’m looking for something to fill the bottom portion of my painting though. It’s complete except that I want to put a poem or something else there. (maybe even in Chinese, if the husband consents) lol.

I’m about to sign up for gymnastics classes as well. Oh dear. I know I am going to be a log the next morning, but I need things to keep my body in  better shape. Blah. Everything is a little tighter now that I am in my old ways.

Gotta run! Going to see a movie with a friend tonight  My Magic by Eric Khoo.

Love, love, love
Sansie

ding dong = ping pong

Last week was a zoo/mess! Monday night I went to a Selamat Hari Raya Bazaar thingy with friends, then Tuesday night I went out again because we didn't work on Wednesday (which is the Muslim new year: Hari Raya equals public holiday).

Thursday went to work, then Thursday night some friends came over and helped me start my scrapbook. Then Friday night I stayed in to work on some stuff. Saturday was filled with a trip to the zoo, went to Mustafa to buy more photo albums, and then at night went to a friend's house to watch the Manchester United v. Blackburn game (2-0). Then Sunday woke up in the afternoon :) and went to a friend's house for a bit, then we went to Tampines for a massage (which really wasn't that good) and some dinner. Then we went to Tampines Sports Hall to play PING PONG (which I insist on calling instead of table tennis because table tennis is not as much fun to say) and BADMINTON (i got nothing here). I like trying to slam in badminton. It's fun :) even if the shuttlecock doesn't like to be slammed. la.

OK Here starts a new week. Hooray Mondays!