Sunday, March 22, 2015

SG50 Countdown at Marina bay: The Float



This was the first time I went to a New Year countdown party at Marina bay: The Float. The reason that I went for this countdown party is solely because of Big Bang! Initially I like Big Bang songs, but not to the extend of being a big fan (VIP). My friend and I decided to head down to Marina bay: The Float with a mass crowd and queue up for almost 2 hours to get into the venue. We brought $20 tickets which were the cheapest, therefore we were allocated to the seats which were at the side of the stage. 




I was very excited about watching Big Bang performance since this will be the first time I ever watch the Korean boyband perform live onstage. Although I had watched G.D solo concert before, I have never watch Big Bang perform as a group. I have to say that their performance was spectacular and entertaining. What surprised me the most was their choice of clothings. They still looked like fashion icon, especially G-dragon. However, I pity them for performing at the outdoor stage in Singapore. Having to sing and dance onstage in a hot weather was crazy! Kudo to their professionalism! They performed for almost 1hour and should be well paid for their efforts. 


It was indeed worth the wait and all the anticipation that night. They surprised me by singing so many songs. I simply love the whole group performing together onstage. Their stage presence were fanastic and their songs were so upbeat. Many fans screamed at the top of their voices. The sound system was a letdown, however it does not dampen the mood of their fans as they were also seen swaying and dancing to Big Bang music. No doubt, their performance was definitely the Hightlight of the day. 


A big thank you to my friend  who is a big fan of Big Bang for taking all the pictures during the performance. I had great memories of the night and the atmosphere was simply marvelous. That was probably one of the best performance I have ever seen. 


That night Big Bang sang seven songs: 1) Fantasic baby 2) Tonight 3) Lies 4) Bad boy 5) Feeling 6) Gara gara go 7) G.D x Taeyang Good boy 


Big Bang showcased an unforgetable performance. I did not regret purchasing the ticket to SG countdown 50. In addition, I would most likely watch their live performances if they come back for Asia concert tour. 

Who is your favorite Big Bang member? I personally enjoyed the performance of them in a group. G.D is stylish and handsome, Top is hot, cool and suave (notably the worst dancer in BB), Taeyang is charismatic and dances well, Daesung is cute and sings well. Last but not least, Seungri is a charming chap. I heard that Big Bang will make a comeback album this year. Who is excited about their comeback album? Hopefully we will see them soon! 


This will probably be the first and the last time ever for me to join in a countdown party. I do not like mass crowd and the time wasted to queue up for hours just to get into the venue. At the end of the day, it was pretty exhausting, having to push and squeeze between many people in the line. 


However, Big Bang make all the waiting worth it. After the performance that night, I became their big fan too. I am joining in the VIP club. :)

Wow! Fantastic baby 


The rest of the performance of SG 50, was mostly boring. Accept for the performance of Malaysian diva Siti Nurhaliza, homegrown singer Stefanie Sun, Veteran singer Kit Chan and Famous song-writer Dick Lee. 


Not to forget the beautiful fireworks in the sky. Everyone look up at the sky and make a wish. Happy New Year! 





Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Takashi Kashiwabara Weibo Update: Happy Birthday





皆様、本当に多くのお祝いの言葉をご馳走さまでした。[呵呵][呵呵][呵呵]

中文翻译: 各位粉丝,非常感谢大家的祝福。

English Translation: To all my Fans, thank you for the well wishes. 

I saw many uploaded photographs of Love Letter and Itazura Na Kiss (Mischievous Kiss) on Weibo, it brought me back to those days when I was young.  It had been 20 years ever since, I have received Birthday wishes from my China fans because of those flims. From the bottom of my heart, i am very thankful for all your support. Nowadays, i am not just an actor, I have been working hard learning the rope to be a scriptwriter and venture into flim production. I hope to view the entertainment world in a new perspective. Although I have nothing much to show yet, I will continue to work hard and gather all your support which gave me lots of strength. I will try my best to produce the results of what I had learnt. 

To all the fans who created the video clip to wish me a happy birthday, please do not let this uncle who had just stepped into 38 years old cry. I was moved to tears by all the fans that appeared in the video clip. There was a video subbing and the production was great. In addition, there were many fans that speak in Japanese, I felt your love deeply. While watching the video there was a warmth inside me, i wondered is it because I am excited or am I feeling touched. 

I viewed the photographs through movie, however some of the photographs that was stored in the electronic device cannot be opened, I will figure out a way to retrieve these photographs. All the fans who left comments in my Weibo and those who made the video clip, I am very grateful for your support. Once again, I felt that your encouragement for me is so precious.  

DramaQueen thoughts 

Finally, Takashi Kashiwabara updated his Weibo account with his recent photographs. I am expecting him to do so since it was his birthday on 16 March. Most of the time Kassy would only update his news randomly, but he would always make it a point to greet his fans especially during special occasion or festivals. 

I personally thought that Kassy is really humble and sweet to show his appreciation for his fans who has been supporting him all these years. He mentioned that most of his fans know him because of Love letter and Itazura Na Kiss. It is true that most of his fans began to know him through these flims. However, I hope Kassy will continue to act in good film productions in the future. At the age of 38, he is really not as old as what he had described about himself. He could be an uncle to the young teenagers but definitely not to the twenties age group. In addition, he still look young and handsome for his age. 

Kassy mentioned that in the future, his focus will be on film production and scriptwriting. That sounds great since we will be able to see more of Takashi Kashiwabara. As long as he is happy and living a fulfilling life, I am sure his fans will support him all the way. :)










Saturday, March 07, 2015

Interstellar (Movie Review)

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I have to say that Interstellar was definitely more entertaining than Gravity: more characters, less monologue and more storyline (though if you really try to understand most of the conversation it really doesn’t make sense; time warps and wormholes and theories that sound deep but actually make no sense at all). This review contains spoilers, so if you wish to avoid spoilers altogether, you may want to look away.


Interstellar is set in some distant future where food is scarce and everyone is struggling to survive as the earth is hit with drought and dust storms. From the technological 21st century, Interstellar’s world has been reduced to a backward society where exploration and science is deemed unnecessary and more people are required to farm (the slowly dying corn). Things are so desperate (survival vs. exploration/science) that the government alters their history books to blot out traveling to space and even landing on the moon; society has become backward and anything to do with technology (e.g. engineering and exploration) are shunned.

The story begins with Cooper, a successful corn farmer who once worked for NASA but since the change in the climate (e.g. sand/dust storms are a common occurrence and the only remaining crop that can be grown is corn, but even that is soon about to die off) and shortage of food, everything to do with science and technology is shut down. As a result, Cooper uses his engineering skills to modify tractors and ends up being a successful corn farmer.

Things take a interesting turn when Cooper’s daughter, Murph (named after “Murphy’s Law”), discovers a ‘ghost’ in her room which seems to be sending her messages in the form of Morse code, which she decodes and tells her father. The decoded message turns out to be coordinates that lead them to a secret underground NASA facility.

At the NASA facility, Cooper and his daughter discover a secret project that has been ongoing for some time: with the climate changes and dying crops, there is a need to find a new home somewhere out there in outer space. Apparently, NASA had received information about 3 possible planets that could be their new home, but with the planets being so far away they have no sure way to determine which planet is the most live-able. To get to these planets, they would have to travel via a wormhole and from there make their exploration. Years back NASA had sent a team of explorers out to determine which planet would be more suitable but none of them have returned. The plan that NASA has is to send some explorers to check out the planets and determine which planet is live-able.

With the arrival of Cooper, they decide to put him in charge of this mission, which he takes on with much reluctance: the time in which it takes for him to travel to and back from this exploration might take him a long while due to the time continuum in space, time so long that his young daughter, Murph, might be old by the time he comes back, if he ever comes back.

Despite this, he still perseveres and makes the trip. By the time his team arrive, and in order to save time they decide to explore the one of the planets, but due to the time difference they end up spending more time there, wasted at least 2 decades and have one less teammate who was swept away by the strong waves. Now left with little fuel, they have to make a descision between the 2 remaining planets. Their decision leads them to discovering a conspiracy by the explorer who landed before them: he wanted to make them believe that his planet was live-able despite it being an inhabitable place. As a result they lose one of their team members and that explorer when escaping.

Left with little fuel, they decide the split into 2 groups - Cooper and one robot to try and make his way back to earth or contact them with the coordinates for their last remaining planet (and hope), and Amelia with another robot to explore the other planet and set up base with Plan B (creating humans from scratch).

Now this is the part where the story gets weird as Cooper is goes through a wormhole and ends up being that "presence" in his daughter's room trying to communicate with her through Morse code. He ends up being able to send her the coordinates through a watch he left with her before he left earth.

On earth at the same time, things are not looking good as the dust storms get worse and people (especially) are dying from respiratory issues. Murph has started to work with NASA and is trying to find a way to contact her father. Through some trail and error she manages to decrypt the message sent to her via the watch. In doing so, she manages to save the population and bring them to safety.

Than, we are shown that Cooper is thrown out of that wormhole and floating out in space where he gets picked up and sent to a station, which has been converted into living quarters for the inhabitants of earth. The station is named after his daughter, Cooper Station, because she saved the people and brought them to escape. Cooper is still the same age as when he left due to the time warp of the wormhole while his daughter has aged to an old woman of about 80 years old. He is just in time to see her as she departs from life. After coming to terms with everything, Cooper leaves the station and goes to look for Amelia.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

The making of Takashi Kashiwabara cameo in Itazura Na Kiss - Love In Tokyo


Takashi Kashiwabara cameo in episode 15 of Itazura Na Kiss - Love In Toyko


Takashi Kashiwabra 

Itazura Na Kiss - Love In Tokyo production crew were waiting for the arrival of Takashi Kashiwabara. It had been 17 years since the remake of this Japanese idol drama. Aiko Sato had previously made a cameo appearance in episode 10 as nurse Kotoko. 

Finally, Takashi Kashiwabara arrived at the scene. The director introduced him to everyone. He bowed humbly to the crew as he get ready for his cameo appearance. He is Naoki Irie for the day, as the director teased him.


Takashi Kashiwabara Interview:

I remembered during that time after we filmed this drama, we received many support from fans in Japan when it was shown on TV. Especially in Taiwan, the response was great. At the same time, I received many job opportunities in Taiwan. I received a lot of love and was well taken care of.  Therefore, with this feeling of gratefulness, I intent to repay the kindness which I have received. Therefore, I agreed to this cameo upon invitation. 

During that time, Teacher Kaoru Tada often came to visit us at the filming set. She would say to me, "You have the feeling of Naoki Irie." This comment had given me lots of courage.  I am thankful for that encouragement, thus I thought of repaying her. 


Today the scene is about Naoki Irie going to give up his ambition. At the hospital, he crossed path with Takashi Kashiwabara who acted as a doctor.  He appeared to be deep in thoughts and turned around to look at him. 


Naoki Irie 17 years ago 

In the manga, I felt that Naoki is a great character. I felt troubled after reading the manga. Because I have read the whole series of manga, I felt that as far as possible, Naoki cannot treat Kotoko too badly. He has to be cautious about it. 

Kiss NG scene

Kassy:   Oh is there?

Interviewer: Yes there is.

Kassy: Under the circumstances when both people are not very familar with each other, it felt a little bit weird.

During filming, I would discuss with my co-star Miss Aiko Sato regarding the kissing angle. After we settled on that, we will film the scene. When we finish filming, we will look through the scene again.


Yuki Furukawa as Naoki Irie

Before meeting the new Naoki, I was interested to find out about his appearance. After meeting him, I think Yuki Furukawa Kun has a tall build. He possess a charisma just like a character that walk out of a manga. I am extremely happy to meet the 2013 version of Naoki Irie and this drama which i have a cameo appearance will be ending soon. I hope everyone will continue to support the story of Naoki and Kotoko. Thank you very much.