Monday, December 24, 2007

Bridge Finale

Tomorrow is the finale for the Christmas season's dramas. Got the best of the best of the actors/actresses for this drama. They are the drama veterans in my church and hopefully this comedy drama would make everyone laugh.

This drama is set in the contemporary time and the story is still there where Joseph & Mary reaches the town of Bethlehem. They tried to check into a hotel but it was fully occupied but was offered elsewhere - the luggage room ...... hehe.

Then the wisemen scene appeared (where the video was shot in Hotel Maya) followed by the shepherds who were businessmen dealing with sheep products. All in modern settings.

The Bridge Finale drama will be followed by a dance finale to cap a fine month of dramas. This dance will see the participation of the actors/actresses, props team and stage decoration team.

That's my abode up in the balcony where I usually gave commands on the lightings, sound and videos.

The singers and the songleader (sitting down with a guitar) practising their songs for the opening of the Christmas service.
Two of the ladies trying to translate the english song into mandarin language. The Christmas service tomorrow morning will be bilingual (English/Mandarin) as our chinese church will be combining with the english church.
This is the group that was practising for the dance finale. The leader, Esther Wong (in black, on stage) was our dance choreographer.
It was an easy song to follow and it required two practise sessions only (those who usually don't dance found it hard to follow the steps but they tried really hard to follow).
Resting time as this practise was done right after service, the children's dance and song practise and just before lunch .............. hehehe

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Travelling to South Africa

I remembered when I travelled to Japan for holidays, I saw the word "Aliens" at the Japanese immigration counters upon disembarking from the plane.

I tiptoed to look out for the Aliens or Predators (those found in the Aliens vs. Predators movie) going to those immigration counters to have their passports (as if they needed one) but saw none but lots of human beings lining up there too. Found out that the Japanese people addressed all foreigners as aliens.

When you fly into South Africa's Johannesburg city, there will be welcoming messages on the electronics board. How nice of them. But on one not so nice day, the electronics board was showing 'Welcome to SA. F*** You'. Oops! What happened?

Read more
Tags: Japan, Japanese Immigration, Aliens, South Africa, Johannesburg

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Feel Good, Feel Bad Is On

The main actress, Niki Ng, a teenage girl thinking that her parents were to strict on her and went on telling small white lies. It came to a day where she followed her best friends becoming a guest relation officer at a karaoke lounge.

One thing led to another which went beyond her comprehension of the situation.

She definitely felt good about what's going on with her friends but will she feel bad later on.











This drama will start with a contemporary dance with slick moves.
Tried capturing different dancing moves that came with different lighting colours.
The guy who is handling the lightings is Eugene Poh, who has just finished his PMR exams (a government examination for secondary school students) lately.
Personally, was satisfied with the lightings.

The dancing scene was followed by a classroom scene where the same notorious bunch was not paying attention in their class.

At the end of this drama, me and Lud (co-producer) have decided to change the script last minute and killed off someone's character and made it a crying scene owing to that. Acting the last scene which will be a sad moment with "First Love by Utada Hikaru" playing at the background will certainly make everyone cry. Yesssssssss!!! FYI, I was touched as well, no tears but felt the sad feelings being acted out. Bravo! Bravo!
Tags: Christmas Drama, Christmas, Feel Good, Feel Bad, First Love, Utada Hikaru

Friday, December 21, 2007

Christmas Trees in Shopping Centres

First World Hotel, the world's biggest hotel, had put up a Christmas tree for people to hang their wishes (for people who have bought some stuff above RM50, which I did).







This tall Christmas tree was found at Berjaya Times Square.















The Curve did a magnificent job too in conjunction with the festive season.










Pavilion, being the latest shopping centre, was not left behind with their white christmas decor.














One Utama did an astounding decor. Find it really different from the usual ones.










Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) put up a gigantic Christmas tree right in the centre of the shopping centre.














Mid Valley's decor could be judged the best with the fairy tales' theme.










The Gurney Plaza in Penang tried to liven up the atmosphere by decorating with leafless wooden trees. Ran out of budget?














My own words "Where on earth did Queensbay Mall in Penang hire the interior decorator(s) from?"

Where did he/she learn that a Christmas tree is hung that way?? What was he/she trying to prove there? This is not creativity.
Tags: Christmas Tree, Christmas, Shopping Centre, First World Hotel, Berjaya Times Square, The Curve, Pavilion, One Utama, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, KLCC, Mid Valley, Gurney Plaza, Queensbay Mall, Interior Designer, Interior Decorator

Dinner at Shangri-La Hotel

Was at Lemon Garden Cafe, Shangri-La Hotel on Wednesday night celebrating my mom's birthday and found that it was fully packed with customers.

Just when you thought that being the most expensive buffet dinner (at RM112.70 - did this enter Malaysia's Book of Records?) in Malaysia and a weekday itself, it would not be packed. Good thing I did make a reservation a day earlier.

The left picture was taken at 7.30pm but by 8.00pm, it was filled.

Shangri-La did put up a Christmas tree made up of bottles right at their lounge.















Three Filipino ladies were belting out English songs. Their stage was located up above the lounge's bar counter.
Saw this nice orchid flowers at the lift area.
A nicely decorated lobby area of the hotel which contributed to the Christmas atmosphere.


Not only the hotel but Jalan Bukit Bintang was decorated to liven up the end of the year festive season. I took this road just to see how nice the place was and at 11.00pm, the traffic jam was still there.

China's Anti-Corruption Website

The China government has set-up a website where the China citizens could lodge corruption complaints/cases against government officials. That's a good step for China to fight against corruption.

An agency by the name of National Bureau of Corruption Prevention was given the green light to proceed with the new website. On the first day of operation, Monday - 17 December 2007, the website crashed tragically. Did the website crash because of virus?

The reason - the website traffic was sooooooo heavy that the server was unable to handle the traffic and it crashed. In other words, the citizens have at last found an avenue to lodge complaints and therefore, tons of complaints were submitted. The website - jubao.gov.cn (in chinese language). Not surprised to hear that as I have heard about corruptions in China from friends who are conducting business there.

I bet that the same would happen in Malaysia if an online submission was opened to the Malaysian public. Maybe unable to revive that server altogether.

Reading: Anti-Corruption Website Unveiled In China - China CSR
Tags: Corruption, China, National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, Jubao

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Pattaya International Fireworks Festival

Pattaya is definitely firing up its presence internationally. Covid19 has hit many nations really hard and Pattaya wasn't exempted from ...