GE2011 Results at Hougang Stadium (Photo post)

Short montage of footage I happened to catch while there with my camera to shoot some photos. Also, shitty sound quality, just FYI.

Now. Pictures.

Number of people around 10PM. The crowd grew bigger as the night drew on.

The GE2011 Aftermath

And so, the end of the 2011 General Elections marks the beginning of our political awakening. The next five years is a crucial time in which we cannot allow ourselves to fade back into the apathy that our generation has been branded with for the past decades.

Some may have been disappointed with the outcome of this GE. Some people may have expected more. But I believe where we are at this elections is a comfortable and gradual transition to change. Our society is maturing, but we are not ready for an overnight revolution, neither should we be wishing for one.

Of course, I eventually had to write a kaypoh GE2011 post.

Am I particularly well-informed in the sphere of politics? No. Politically apathetic? Hard to be in the current political climate.

For over 40 years, soccer and American politics have been far more interesting for Singaporeans to discuss than our stagnant and immovable PAPlitical scene. But there’s a whiff of change in the air, and regardless of whether the 2011 elections will bring in actual tides of change, it is undeniable that something has cracked in the veneer of a peaceful and contented society that the PAP has tried desperately to mask for the past decade. This little tear in the fabric has now morphed into an fast evolving monster that the PAP is clueless in handling.

I’m no expert, and I’m not going to pretend to be. But there are just a few things I’d like to point out.

Letter to a Dead Lover

Because I couldn’t have put it more eloquently myself.
—

Letter to a Dead Lover
APR. 12, 2011 By JOSH LIBURDI
(via ThoughtCatalog)

Dear Dead Lover,

I am sorry to inform you of this, but you are dead. Do not be confused by what may appear to be normal signs of life: breathing, a pulse, a thought. I have diagnosed you and you are certainly, unequivocally, without a doubt dead. There will be no eulogy, no funeral. I have buried you in the region of my body farthest from my head. I believe that this is somewhere in the feet, possibly in one of the toes, but the exact location is unknown and better left undisclosed.

50 Reasons Not To Date A Graphic Designer

Source: (A Bourbon for Silvia)

1. They are very weird people.
2. There are billions of them in the world, like colors on the screen of your computer.
3. They will analyse conversations in layers.

The Lion King.

Caught the broadway musical for the second time this (or yesterday) evening. I first watched it when I was in London with mom and sis in 2009, and was totally blown away by the set and costuming.

Back then I was a freshly minted sophomore. Movies were not yet ruined for me as a result of my film education. The ‘formulae’ of storytelling had not yet become itemized segments in my mind.

Two years down the road and a few more short films later, I’ve become far more sensitive to the nuances, hooks and turning points in the process of telling a story, be it one on screen or stage.

There will be spoilers, but really, how many of you don’t know the story of Lion King?

And the world indeed, spins madly on.

Hi everyone… Haven’t been blogging because I’ve been pretty busy. The working hours are filled with plans and schedules for Rediscover.sg, and when I get home I’m working on designs/videos for church. It’s all good and I’m loving every moment of it, but it means that many reflections diving in and out of my brain never makes it on paper (or type).

For those of you who’ve not seen a naggy note from me somewhere on Twitter/Facebook regarding the Home video the Rediscover crew worked on, it’s here:

Am extremely pleased to know that we are hitting close to 3,300 views sorry, while I was writing the entry it broke the 3,300 mark on YouTube, regardless of what the votes reflect. Been hearing from a few friends that’s it’s gone viral to people who aren’t our first-degree friends, so I’m really happy that we did something that really nudges at the heartstrings of our fellow Singaporeans. You can read my reflections on making this video and working on Rediscover so far, here.

Recent thoughts on the latest calamity to hit our planet under cut.

Mixtape #1 – Ten songs for today.

Decided to do a song post! My playlist in general is a rather limited affair. It’s 50% sermons, 20% Christian songs (of which 90% is Hillsong albums), 20% soundtracks and the remaining 10%, others.

These ‘others’ don’t often include many current or latest hits because I honestly feel very little for much of mainstream music. (Find it hard to listen to songs without meaningful lyrics). Most of my secular songs come from friends as recommendations, or random songs I hear used in short films on the internet. HAHA.

So for tonight here’s 10 songs from the 10% that are on my favourites list. Be warned that there may (generally) be a lot of Ingrid Michaelson and Regina Spektor on this list!
(In no particular order.)

I love my job, really.

Honestly, I do, and I can’t think of anything else I would be happier doing as an intern.

Some snippets from the day we covered the bakery…

I loved the experience because it was a bakery and I obviously Iove baking, the magic of ovens and the smell of freshly baked bread and how it just makes you feel all warm, fuzzy and homely inside. :] You can read more about it on Rediscover.sg.

You’ll be seeing more of it later on in the year when we launch our mini video series, there’s good news on that front that I’ll share more of when I can.

Here are the 3 jokers I work with.

This time last year I went to Switzerland with 5 girls, this time this year I’m on internship with 3 guys. Somehow I haven’t managed to strike a balance on this front for reasons I have yet to comprehend.

Oh well.
And here’s a sneak peak of what we’ll be featuring on Rediscover next…

Stay tuned. And if you see this by Thursday and want an A4 copy of my calendar at $20 a pop, let me know ASAP.

Foodie: MELT @ Mandarin Oriental

Family went to MELT at Mandarin Oriental to celebrate our birthdays. Mom (21st Feb), sis (12th Feb) and I (4th Feb) are all February babies, 3 consecutive weeks worth of ‘em, so to save our stomachs and figures from obesity we try to celebrate it together.

This year we went to MELT, which is a great restaurant in Mandarin Oriental. This place is exorbitantly pricey during peak periods but the food is excellent as far as buffets go. Digressing, all the restaurants in Oriental are excellent. There’s Morton’s, of course, which needs no introduction. Cherry Garden, the dim sum place, which according to the author of ieatishootipost is the ‘sort of place you bring your future in-laws to when you’re going to break it to them that you’re marrying their daughter’. [There's the weekend dim sum a la carte buffet here at $45+++ per pax that is worth every penny.] There’s also Wasabi Bistro, the Japanese restaurant. The weekend brunch a la carte buffet is $58+++ per pax but is also worth every cent you put down. In short, you can’t really go wrong with any of Oriental’s offerings. It may be a little pricier than some others, but I subscribe to ieatishootipost’s Leslie Tay philosophy of not wasting my calories on yucky food. (Almost) nothing makes me feel grumpier and more dissatisfied than poorly prepared food especially if it’s going to my waistline.

COMING BACK TO MELT, yes… This isn’t the first time we came here, probably the second. We were here one Christmas as well. Because it’s her birthday month Mom had the option of having 15% off or 1 person dining for free (we took the latter option) when using UOB. They also gave us complimentary yummy praline cake, two big slices of it (which we were so full we had to tar-bao).

Now I don’t know about you, but to me the two most important parts of a buffet are the appetizers (read: sashimi and/or cold seafood) and the desserts. Everything else in between is a filler and forgivable if it isn’t up to par. So I always rate my buffets by how good the sashimi and desserts are.

Sashimi here is one of the best you can get on a buffet line. Fresh, not a hint of having been left out too long. Wasabi that kicks you in the nose and makes your eyes water. [No tuna for me, personal choice the same way I don't take sharks fin.]

On to the other cold dishes there are heaps of crayfish, mussels, crab and scallops on ice. These are not too bad but they do taste like they’ve been out there for a while.

The crab claws are well done because all you need to do is fork the meat and it slides out of the claw without any need to wrestle with it at all.

Cheese platter. I love cheese. Almost every kind of cheese. Except maybe blue cheese. It’s always nice to go for buffets with expansive cheese selections to have a taste of stuff you normally only get on European breakfast tables. [If you really love cheese, try the buffet at Fullerton hotel. They have a cheese selection that will leave you dumbfounded.]

Some antipasta from the appetizers section. Behind it are three types of thai salad. Pomelo, papaya and mango. Good stuff. Okay I’ll move on briefly to the mains although I touched little of it.

If you want to eat anything from the mains, go for the Indian cuisine, of which there is a lot of. They also have an entire Chinese section, pasta, western and all your usual suspects in an international buffet, but the Indian food is pretty yummy. I think it tasted better to me the last time we were here. This time I don’t think anything about it has changed, but my tastebuds have tasted the awesomeness of the cuisine while I was Sri Lanka last year, so it wasn’t as yums to me as it was previously. MELT has one of the most expansive buffet selections ever. I don’t have many pictures of it to share because I nibble on the mains and my plate therefore looks fairly pathetic and unphotogenic. So we’ll move on to the desserts.

Now they don’t stinge on their desserts either. Seriously, they offer more than any dedicated dessert shop any day. There’s drawers and plates full of cakes and creams and fondue with not just fruit but cookies on sticks.

And waffles and ice cream and those fun poppin’ chocolate balls that go pop in your mouth.

And more. All these were not even half of what you can get in that section. There’s was an entire drawer full of luxury chocolates as well which we skipped.

And then the servers brought out two slices of this cake! It’s a praline with a crunchy nutty base. [Conrad has this cake too which we ordered some years for birthdays that is really really good.] Two slices because Mom told them there were 3 of us celebrating birthdays. We tarbao-ed them home because we simply couldn’t eat any more.

The service was great. I guess it’s not peak season for students to work there so most of the servers were filipinos and there was an ang moh manager. (Actually I don’t know if Oriental takes in waiting staff who are students, their service has always been impeccable in my memory.) One of the staff charged us wrongly for one of the glasses of wine and they gave it is to us complimentarily after mom notified them of the mistake.

Good service accompanying a satisfying meal, which is just about all you could want for a happy tummy and a happy mind.

MELT is definitely on my memorable-buffets-list, but it comes in somewhere after Oscar’s (Conrad) and The Line (Shangri-La) and before Town (Fullerton) for international buffets. This is not even including the Chinese and Jap buffets.

(I love food too much and should shut up now.)

Sometimes I think I should just blog about food because it makes me happy.

Kay off now.