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Saturday, February 06, 2010

The Star: Silviana

Location: Long Beach Restaurant/ Botanic Gardens

The 21st Birthday Series is back for the 3rd year!

The newest birthday girl was ~~forced~~ asked to treat us, the Chem Engrg clique, and it was decided to be at a seafood restaurant.

Interestingly, the birthday girl had no say over the food to be ordered as it was all decided upon by the scandalous pair who reached early to prepare. Dish after dish of seafood came and went, and it felt both like a birthday celebration, and an early CNY reunion dinner:

The highlight was really how Silvi received presents after presents, which were all accessories of what she had really wanted--an iPod. And so time and again, we witnessed the hundred disappointed and sulky face expressions, like the perfectly-timed photo below:

Of course, the final gift was still not revealed even after cake-cutting:

We headed to Botanic Gardens and played with sparklers..

And the words were only legible after QUITE some tries...

And there, the birthday girl with her desired iPod..

人生是黑白的.
5:57 PM <3

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Friday, February 05, 2010

STB outsourced the World Expo volunteer recruitment to this company, Kingsmen Exhibits. I feel they really have to improve on their efficiency and relook into their relations with applicants.

First, they said they would notify shortlisted applicants for interview by mid January. Not receiving any news towards the end of January, I assumed I wasn't shortlisted, and decided to send an email to the person-in-charge to confirm it.

Not receiving any replies 2 working days later, I sent another email, this time not only to the person-in-charge, but I CC-ed to 2 other people in the department, to confirm whether interview notifications were sent out.

Again, not receiving any replies from the 3 people, a few working days later, I sent yet another email.

No news. No replies.

Not wanting this waiting game to affect the mid-year plans, I decided to call today.

I called once, the person was not available at that moment.

I called again, the person was still not available.

I called the third time, someone else answered and said that interviews were all done and closed.

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I understand there were more than 1000 applicants for 400 slots, so the majority were rejected. But 3 weeks after interview notifications were sent out, don't they have the decent politeness to reply to the rest of the less-worthy applicants?

If it's because there were too many mails to clear in their inboxes, then it probably reflects badly on their efficiency too. My 3 emails sent were more than a week ago already.

I'm not really disappointed with the rejection (which never came), since I have other concerns like Money, Time and YOG. But leaving things hanging in the air for the rest of the applicants, who needed an early answer to make plans for a 2-month worth of commitment, is really an example of poor relations and incompetency.

To anyone out there who is still waiting, you can stop.

人生是黑白的.
3:26 PM <3

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Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Star: 阿密特-张惠妹 (《阿密特》首次世界巡回演唱会)

Location: Singapore Indoor Stadium

Date: 30th January 2010, Saturday.

It's such a WOW. You see, the response was so good that another concert was added on the 29th. All in all, 15000 people watched her performance over 2 nights.

I really must admit that I was a tad disappointed when I researched for the songlist for the China concerts, because the list was mostly filled up with songs that I wasn't very familiar with. Hence, Homework needed to be done--I started to listen to those songs at the beginning of the month, and by the concert, I was more familiar with the songs than ever, and could sing to the lyrics on the big screens.

A rock concert has been something I had wanted to experience. Someone said "there's a rocker in everyone", and yes, I did enjoy it, and was really glad that I 'mugged' the songs before attending--I could appreciate the songs and could shout/scold/wave/bounce with them.

I'm now so used to calling her "阿密特" instead of 张惠妹, so for the rest of this entry, the former shall be used.
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-I was awed by the very first song 阿密特 sang. Nothing more can be said about the power of the song, even though none of us understood. The CD version of this native song can be heard here: THIS.

-当我开始偷偷的想你、冲动、薇多利亚的秘密 came next, and these immediately revved up the atmosphere.

-分生 was next, and judging from the cheers once the music started, it showed that the audience looked forward to it. That's good news, since 分生 is the signature song of this revolutionary album.

-你好不好、水蓝色眼泪 were slower songs, and they were not as popular as some of her other K songs. 相爱后动物感伤 came, and then it was a violin solo by someone else.

-And the big surprise came: She sang the opera "Nessun Dorma" and the pitch-perfect high notes gripped everyone in awe. Really, she deserved a good standing ovation for this.

-It followed by a series of High songs like 不要乱说、永远的快乐、将爱、黑吃黑.. It was pretty interesting how the organisers tried to censor the "IT's BULLSHIT" in 黑吃黑. "It's Bullshit" didn't show up on the lyrics on the big screen, and whenever it comes, 阿密特 only sang "It's BULL..." and then she pointed the microphone outwards. But the 合音s sang out the "Shit", together with the audience. It was great fun shouting with the rest, and "Bullshit" resonated in the stadium!

-我可以抱你吗、趁早、哭不出来 would probably be some audience's favourite segment, as these were the most K songs she did that night. The power of "万人KTV" could be felt in these 3 songs.

-寂寞保龄球 is quite a lame song that plays on the rhyming of 'boring' and 'bowling'.

-She sang a meaningful 灵魂的重量from the newest album. 掉了was next, and though it is from the newest album too, but as it is the most K song, it was much to everyone's liking.

-An English song was next, followed by a series of High numbers, like "So good"、发生什么事、发烧、瞬间、火.

-好胆你就来 was one of the songs that I looked forward to, and her way of singing her rare Hokkien song was gooood. The atmosphere was quite High too.

-The last slow songs were "彩虹"--a song dedicated to all kinds of love, including gays, and "爱，永远不会消失".

-The final songs were extremely High. People were jumping and screaming with "因为有我"、" OK"、"三天三夜". I knew 三天三夜 is a very High song, but had never expected the extent to be so much.. If anyone still had a working throat, that song would have hoarsed it.

-The ENCORE segment only had "开门见山", a new song in the album, which equally maintained the very HIGH atmosphere after 三天三夜. I noticed they didn't show "混帐" and "笨蛋" of the lyrics on the screen too. Er, but these aren't vulgar eh?

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I must say, I like how the concert excluded fanciful dresses and over-the-top stage designs that are common for solo concerts. I guess people pay to watch 张惠妹 not for the physical decorations and effects, but to experience the blasting vocals Live. By removing all these redundant things, she drew all attention to her stage presence and the performance itself, which did not disappoint at all.

And a very laudable thing is, she actually gave the background singers and the band (especially the electric guitarist) very very very much air-time. In other solo concerts, you would probably not see the background singers nor the Live Band, until the end, when the singer is giving thanks. BUT, for 阿密特's concert, the background singers were standing IN FRONT, and towards the end, they even took the centre stage, while 阿密特was standing at the side, away from the limelight. The electric guitarist was also given so much 'Face' to do many solo jammings.. it goes to show how 阿密特 wants to share the stage with them, instead of dominating the stage alone.

Before I end the entry here, I shall share 3 youtube videos, that very adequately compiled the best of the concert on the 30th. Catch them!

1. Part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUf7dbFkqIA
2. Part 2 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAEyiZsJpwQ&feature=related
3. Encore here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sevSDUL3JM&feature=related

人生是黑白的.
1:11 AM <3

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The Star: 梁文音 (校园音乐会)

Location: NTU Lecture Theatre 1A

Date: 28th January 2010, Thursday.

This was the 3rd time I hear her sing live, out of the 6 times she came Singapore in just 1 year.

NTU's LT 1A is smaller than the Lee Kong Chian LT I went last year, and so we all had to stand at the back by the time we were there, since all the seats and staircases were already filled.

梁文音has quite attractive vocals, though it is not like fellow 原住民 powerhouse 张惠妹，but she is really suitable for both 抒情歌 and 轻快歌。Coming to Singapore twice to promote this album really shows that her company is really holding on and building up on the 'PR' with Singapore fans--afterall they voted hard to bring her 2 popularity awards at the 2009新加坡金曲奖。

If she maintains the high frequency of coming Singapore, I'm foreseeing that she'll come here for a solo concert by the end of next year.

Before that happens, this campus concert at NTU and 2 other live band performances she held over the past weekend were really warm-ups.

At NTU, she sang 6 songs!

1. 第六感

2. 哭过就好了

3. 最最

4. 很久很久以后

5. 三个愿望

6. 爱一直存在 ("Encore").

Yes, they even threw in an "Encore" for a campus concert, can you believe it? But as always, "Encores" are rarely genuine, as they've been planned beforehand. Singing 6 songs for a campus concert is considered generous!

But she left out one of my favourite numbers in the album: 亲爱的是我 (click it!) It is afterall, the kind of songs that I fancy. But well, I was already satisfied.

NTU has numerous campus concerts in a year. Probably about one every 2 months. On the other hand, NUS had NONE in 2009. I wonder where the problem lies..

人生是黑白的.
12:41 AM <3

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Tuesday, February 02, 2010

真的是个大惊喜。

人生是黑白的.
2:16 AM <3

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